Admirable

I don't usually pay attention to press releases that I receive, but this one I thought was worth passing on:

PITTSBURGH, February 28, 2007 --Bob Gallagher, a Pittsburgh CPA and management consultant to CPA firms nationwide, appears on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Friday, March 9, 2007, with author/movie superstar Denzel Washington and WNBA/Detroit Shockers basketball all-star, Swin Cash. This show originally aired on October 31, 2006 and the producers have decided to re-air the show.

Cash lovingly calls Gallagher her "Paps" and writes:

"He was always telling me to give back, always preaching about the cycle of poverty and bad decisions and hardship ... He's always in the background, always just a great cheerleader and supporter ... Bob never had an agenda other than to help me become the person, the basketball player, and the woman I am today ... There's so much that comes down to race in our society today. But a beautiful story like this one -- a white man reaching out to help a young African-American girl -- had nothing to do with color of our skin."

Gallagher and Cash met through the Western Pennsylvania Youth Basketball Club, Inc. (www.usagirlshoops.com), which he founded in 1990. At the time they were introduced, Cash was an 11-year old living with her single mother in McKeesport, a suburb of Pittsburgh.

After Cash's developmental years in McKeesport, she went on to play basketball at the University of Connecticut, winning two national titles; captured a WNBA title in her second season with Detroit; played in the 2003 WNBA All-Star game; and won the gold medal with the U.S. women's basketball team in the 2004 Olympics.

Gallagher is the former managing partner of a CPA firm in Pittsburgh, and a former partner with a Big Four firm, and for the past 20 years has consulted with more than 700 CPA firms as well as led many workshops for more than 1,200 CPAs on leadership, business development and management.

Gallagher has continued to support the basketball club by raising more than $1 million to help it continue to fulfill its mission. He has maintained this passionate support in memory of his young niece -- his twin brother's daughter -- who died in 1992. His over-arching goal for the past 16 years has been to provide inspiration and better choices for underprivileged girls.