Michael Gentille was one of those versatile, high-functioning, fast-thinking people who made sure the show went on.
His talent for production was revealed early on as a member of the concert planning committee at St. Vincent College in Latrobe. He went on to work for DiCesare-Engler Productions, the Civic Arena and The Pavilion at Star Lake before he left Pittsburgh in the 2010s.
Mr. Gentille died on March 9, at 65, of a heart attack in Baton Rouge, La., where he was vice president of development and operations for the security firm Allied Universal.
He spent his first nine years in Greenfield before the Gentilles moved to Pleasant Hills. There, he played basketball at St. Elizabeth High School, where he graduated in 1978.
While at St. Vincent, he met Ed Traversari of DiCesare-Engler.
“We were dong shows at the school back in the day in the late ‘70s: Springsteen, Zappa, Hall & Oates,” Traversari says. “He was on the concert committee, which I done when I was in college too. Everyone wants to work those shows, but only a couple of them rise to the occasion, and he did.”
And so he went on work for DiCesare-Engler in production for shows at the Stanley Theatre, Syria Mosque, Civic Arena and Three Rivers Stadium in the ’80s. Then he switched to the Arena, and in the ’90s, to Star Lake, where he eventually became the general managing director.
Through many of those years at the Arena and Star Lake, he worked under Lance Jones.
“He was my friend as well,” Jones notes in an email, “which almost goes without saying because he was effusive with his wit and especially his warmth — and that’s a real bond builder in any relationship.”
“Mike G,” as everybody called him, had a deep understanding of production and facility operations, Jones notes. “And just as important, he had the temperament to handle all kinds of live-event eventualities: soothing tour personnel egos backstage, calming handfuls of upset patrons out front, coordinating with security teams handling the overly rambunctious, and so much more.”
One of the overly rambunctious was the great John Sebastian, who was headlining an “an ill-fated” Woodstock 20th Anniversary show at the Arena in 1989. Due to low sales, they had dropped Melanie from the lineup to save money.
They sent Mr. Gentille out to inform the crowd that Melanie would not be appearing.
“Then he quickly added, ‘And now, here is John Sebastian!,’ which unfortunately resulted in Sebastian being greeted by a round of boos,” Jones notes. “After Sebastian’s set was over, the ex-Lovin’ Spoonful member was not lovin’ how the crowd had welcomed him. He sped offstage like a rocket and found Mike backstage, practically pinning him to the wall and screaming ‘Don’t you EVER do a thing like that to me again!’ Mike lived to tell the tale — and we often howled over that incident for years afterward.”
Mr. Gentille and his wife Stacy, with whom he split in the early ‘90s, raised two kids, Kayleigh and Sean.
“There was the good and the bad,” Sean said of having his father running Star Lake. Obviously, the good was the free access.
“The bad is that I could never go and drink or smoke weed on the lawn,” Sean says with a laugh. “The Dave Matthews Band show in ‘90s shows were rough. Did I care about Dave Matthews? No, but it was a social event and I knew my limitations. If he didn’t find me, he’d have eyes on me.”
While they were still in school, Sean and Kayleigh both became production runners, doing everything from heading out to find Matthews beef jerky to driving Blink-182’s Travis Barker to the bars.
“It gave us a lot of backstage moments,” Sean says. “It felt big then, and even bigger now.”
In 2013, Mr. Gentille moved to Louisiana to work for an event security company Allied Universal. At the time of his death, he was a vice president of development and operations, working with Louisiana State University and the NFL. He handled Super Bowls, NFL drafts, Final Fours, College Football Playoff games and more.
Neither of his kids ended up going into the business. Kayleigh is the senior director of clinical operations at UPMC, and Sean is a former Post-Gazette sports writer now at The Athletic.
“He wanted us to do our own things and do what we wanted to do,” Sean says. “There was never any kind of pressure. The important thing was that we were happy.
Of the concert business, Sean says, “We got to see how it all worked, and most importantly, we got to see it next to him.”
Mr. Gentille is survived by his children, Sean Gentille (Hailey Salvian) and Kayleigh Gentille (Ryan Crivella); his cherished mother Mary B. Gentille Clydesdale (Richie); his siblings Aggie Greer (Joe Sr.), Theresa Bekavac, Robert L. Gentille Jr., Stephen Gentille (Kelly), William Gentille (Layna) and Susan Gazzo (Michael); and his children’s mother, Stacy Corcoran (Jerry);
Friends will be received on Sunday from 2-4 and 6-8 p.m. in the Edward P. Kanai Funeral Home, 500 Greenfield Ave. 15207. A Blessing Service will be held in the Funeral Home at 7:30. p.m. on Sunday.
The family asks that in lieu of flowers, consider a donation to the Mario Lemieux Foundation, dedicated to raising funds for cancer research and patient care in the Pittsburgh community and beyond.
First Published: March 20, 2025, 7:11 p.m.
