Patrick W. Quinn, Allegheny County court administrator and youth coach, dies

Over the last few days, Patrick Quinn’s children have been inundated with messages paying tribute to him.

Some thank him for teaching them how to play football, baseball or basketball through youth sports in Mt. Washington and Brookline.

But most of them praise him for teaching them to be good men.

“Your dad taught me how to throw a baseball, how to shoot a basketball/box out, how to tackle, and how to get in a three-point stance,” one person wrote. “More than that, through his coaching, he taught me about hard work, team work and respect.”

Quinn, of Mt. Washington, had a stroke on Friday and died the next day at UPMC Mercy Hospital.

He was 65.

In his professional life, Quinn served as the administrator for the adult section of the Family Division of the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas.

There, too, he was beloved, said Judge Kim Eaton.

Quinn graduated from Duquesne University with a bachelor’s degree in 1977 and a law degree in 1984.

He worked in the Allegheny County solicitor’s office as the manager of the Department of Human Services and Child Support, and ultimately became the administrator in the family division in 2003.

Quinn was a past president of the Eastern Regional Child Support Association, served as an adjunct instructor on child support enforcement training at Penn State University and was a board member and past president of the Domestic Relations Association of Pennsylvania.

He also lectured across the state and country and was an expert on federal funding relative to child support enforcement, Eaton said. He had a statewide reputation.

“Everybody in the state knows him, and everybody in the state loves him,” she said.

Quinn was admired by the people who worked for him, as well, Eaton said. He was known for being fair and watching out for his employees.

But he was also supremely competent and willing to speak his mind, she said.

When Eaton first became the administrative judge in the family division, Quinn was willing to reel her in.

“He would tell me I was full of [it], but in a respectful way,” she said. “When I had some hare-brained idea, he always talked me out of it.

“As an administrative judge, to have somebody to tell me I was wrong — that was invaluable.”

Judge John McVay, who was friends with Quinn for more than 40 years, said Quinn was direct and highly opinionated.

“He wasn’t afraid to tell head football coaches, elected officials or priests his opinion if it was warranted,” McVay said.

He met Quinn the first day of football camp at Duquesne in August 1974.

Quinn played defensive end as a starter for three years at Duquesne and was an All-American his senior year, McVay said.

The two men lost touch for a while right out of college. But on the night McVay walked into his first law school class at Duquesne, Quinn was sitting in the back of the room.

It rekindled a friendship that lasted a lifetime.

They worked together in the solicitor’s office, coached together and played golf together.

Quinn served as a youth sports coach for more than 30 years, coaching baseball and girls’ softball, as well as football for the Brookline Knights and Bishop Canevin High School.

He served as the commissioner of the Legion League golf club on Mt. Washington for 30 years.

His son Tim Quinn said many of the young people his dad coached saw him as a father figure.

“The outpouring of those types of messages have been incredible,” he said.

Eaton called Quinn a quintessential Pittsburgher.

“He always knew a guy,” she said — whether someone needed tires or a contractor.

“He had this voice like he was gargling gravel,” Eaton said. “He sounded gruff, and he was big. But he was like this gentle giant.”

Tim Quinn said his dad rarely showed emotion. But “when he saw his grandbabies, his face really lit up.”

Quinn’s son Casey is expecting the birth of his first child in a month.

Eaton said Quinn had been contemplating retirement and was looking forward to spending more time with his grandchildren.

Quinn is survived by his wife of 39 years, Audrey Quinn; sons Shawn, of South Fayette, Tim and Casey, of Upper St. Clair, and a daughter, Shanna Quinn, of New York City; six grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews.

Visitation is from 5 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, and 2 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Brusco-Falvo Funeral Home, 214 Virginia Ave., Mt. Washington.

A funeral Mass will be held at Mary, Queen of Peace Parish/St. Mary of the Mount Church at 10 a.m. Thursday. The burial will be at St. Michael’s Cemetery on South 18th Street in Pittsburgh.