‘Key’ figure at Peacock Keller heading toward retirement
After 33 years of navigating the legal profession, Susan Key is poised to take the off ramp.
“My husband has the world’s greatest job,” she said, laughingly referring to spouse Abe, longtime president of Pony Baseball and Softball. “He loves to travel, and I want to travel with him. And our children (daughter Casey and son Lincoln) live in Florida and Colorado, good places to visit.”
Traveling is a key reason why a key partner at Peacock Keller LLP will retire at the end of 2022, following her 59th birthday.
Susan Mondik Key, a partner at the Washington-based firm since 2003, will be leaving with a flourish. On Monday, she will receive the Washington County Bar Association’s top honor, the Charles C. Keller Distinguished Service Award, during the organization’s monthly business meeting at Hollywood Casino at the Meadows.
Two months later, she will hit the road and hit the tarmac.
The Keller honor will complete a triple crown of achievement for Key, who had previously earned the association’s other top awards: the Robert L. Ceisler Professionalism Award, in 2019, and Certificate of Meritorious Service, in 2017. No other attorney has swept the county association’s highest honors.
Key was unanimously recommended for the Keller award by the association’s Professionalism Committee, and unanimously approved by its directors.
“She’s proud she’s getting this because Chuck was one of her mentors,” said Kathy Sabol, executive director of the bar association. Keller and Ralph Peacock founded the firm in 1950.
Sabol said Key is a deserving honoree. “Susan always has a calm grace about her. She is very dedicated to every project she undertakes and has the professional respect of her peers. And she is a joy to work with.”
If Key now needed a resume, it would feature her professional specialties: estate planning and administration, and elder law issues. She also has been a special counsel to taxing authorities, including school districts, and litigator of tax assessment appeals.
But beyond those specialties, she also has a reputation for working with groups who rely on her assistance: the elderly and special needs individuals.
“She does go the extra mile,” Sabol said.
“Susan is a perfect person for working with those groups. She has a good heart,” said Damon Faldowski, a longtime Washington attorney, former judge and a current board director with the bar association. He worked with Key when she was a young attorney at Phillips & Faldowski PC in Washington.
Faldowski, now a mediator and arbitrator with noblemediation LLC, appreciated her work then and still does. “Susan is a very dedicated, honest individual,” Faldowski said. “She’s just a good lawyer who’s always cared about her clients.”
Key has served in numerous leadership capacities with the county and state bar associations. She has been president (2018), secretary, treasurer and Young Lawyers president with the county bar group. Her duties with the Pennsylvania Bar Association have included membership on the Board of Governors (2003-2006) and House of Delegates.
She also is a board director for the Washington County Bar Foundation, was a trustee of the Pennsylvania Bar Foundation, and is a past chair of the Washington County Chamber of Commerce.
Susan Key’s Washington County roots run deep. She was born in Washington, graduated from Peters Township High School and received her bachelor’s degree from Washington & Jefferson College, en route to earning her juris doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh.
Her traveling partner likewise is a longtime local. Abe Key grew up in Washington, graduated from West Virginia University and has been Pony president for 27 years. The couple reside in East Washington.
After three-plus decades, dozens of awards and deep professional satisfaction, Susan Key will depart the legal field in a couple of months and ease into retirement, visiting the big world out there. She, however, will be leaving a void in the slice of the world to which she is accustomed.
“Susan works hard at so many levels,” Sabol said. “Susan is going to be greatly missed.”