Professing a Love for One Another and for Pitt

When Roger Glunt (CBA ’60) was a University of Pittsburgh business student back in the 1950s and juggling academics and activities became hectic, he would seek out the peace and quiet of Heinz Memorial Chapel to help him sort things out. 

“It was a sacred and secure place for me and I would often come in here and sit down and think,” he said. 

Since his college years, it's become an even more important place for Glunt and his wife, Lee, a Point Park University alumna. They've renewed their vows twice at Heinz Chapel since marrying at Second United Presbyterian Church in Wilkinsburg, just a few months after Roger graduated from Pitt.

This July 9, they will mark their 60th wedding anniversary.

They've made a regular practice of renewing their vows—at myriad venues—first on their 25th anniversary, then on their 35th and 40th. Since then, the renewal ceremony has become an annual event for them, at different venues with different officiants. They’ve held it at Presbyterian, Lutheran and Catholic churches as well as nondenominational places. They’ve had priests and ministers officiate and even a nun.

But Heinz Chapel holds a special place in Glunt’s heart.

It represents an enriching time for Glunt while he was a student. He was a proud trumpeter in the Pitt Marching Band, a member of the ROTC and an active Sigma Chi fraternity brother where he met lifelong friends. Years later, while busy with his own home building business, he joined the Pitt Marching Band Alumni Association. That led him to the Pitt Alumni Association where he served as president from 1994 to 1996. Eventually, he served on Pitt’s Board of Trustees and is now an emeritus member.

“I believe in this place and its people,” he said. “My closest friends today are either from the Pitt Band or the Sigma Chi fraternity.” 

Lee feels the same way. “Knowing Roger for so long, Pitt means just as much to me as it does to him,” she said.

The Glunts have donated generously to the University—which works with potential donors through Pitt Giving. The Glunts created the Nancy Glunt Hoffman Endowed Chair in the School of Nursing to honor Roger’s late sister, created a similar fund to honor former band director Robert L. Arthur and are currently endowing the Roger and Lee Glunt Family Endowed Fund, which will award scholarships to business students. Other donations they’ve made support students, research and programs, and they’ve made many gifts in honor of their friends to support their beloved Heinz Chapel. Roger Glunt also mentors a couple of recent Pitt graduates,

“There are flashier places on the Pitt campus, but this is the rock,” said Glunt, glancing up at the Chapel’s high vaulted ceilings and soaring stained glass windows. “This is the anchor.”