Thomas Lipinski, a Lawrenceville-born author who set his well-regarded Carroll Dorsey mystery series in the gritty streets and politics of Pittsburgh and who taught many students English at Edinboro University, died Thursday at age 62.
In a notice to the campus community, the university’s interim president, Michael J. Hannan, noted that the well-liked professor started working there as a full-time, temporary instructor in 2000, was appointed to a tenure-track position the next year, and was granted tenure in 2006. He was department chair from 2011 to 2014. He taught many students, English majors and not, freshman composition, creative writing, screenwriting and advanced screenwriting.
Mr. Lipinski was born on Nov. 25, 1955, grew up in Lawrenceville and earned a master of fine arts degree at the University of Pittsburgh.
As a writer, his forte was crime fiction. In 2001, the Private Eye Writers of America gave its Shamus Award to him for “Death in the Steel City.”
His debut, “The Fall-Down Artist,” in 1994 was nominated for a Shamus Award for best first private-eye book. It introduced Carroll Dorsey as a hard-nosed private detective who specializes in personal injury fraud investigations for lawyers and insurance companies.
Mr. Lipinski also was the author of “A Picture on Her Tombstone,” “Steel City Confessions,” and “Old Guys Rules.” In 2001, he was anthologized in the short story collection, “Pittsburgh Noir.”
According to the Edinboro University notice, Mr. Lipinski was working on a new novel about a blacklisted attorney set in Pittsburgh in 1955.
Mr. Hannan wrote, “He will be missed.”
He lived in West Middlesex, Mercer County, with his wife, Barbara, and died at UPMC Passavant Hospital in McCandless of what his brother, John Lipinski of Bethany, W.Va., said was complications from heart surgery.
[Sept. 10 update]: Funeral arrangements are being handled by J. Bradley McGonigle Funeral Home and Crematory Inc. in Sharon, Pa., and a service is set for Tuesday: http://www.mcgoniglefuneralhomeandcrematory.com/memsol.cgi?user_id=2134698.
Bob Batz Jr.: bbatz@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1930 and on Twitter @bobbatzjr.
First Published: September 7, 2018, 5:22 p.m.