Nov 26, 2017 5 min read

Five years ago, when Fred Lapisardi and his wife, Jacqueline, were setting up their Rue de la Paix line of Civil War accessory reproductions at the Carnegie Library in Carnegie, people began asking him if he was related to the library’s namesake.

The next time they attended the library’s Civil War Day in 2013, Lapisardi dressed in formal attire and a woman attendee addressed him as Mr. Carnegie because of his uncanny likeness to the famous Pittsburgh industrialist.

As word spread, library staff made an effort to see him, and an infatuated photographer took his photo. Tapping into the notoriety of the day, Lapisardi began jocularly addressing new arrivals with the words “Welcome to my library.”

A retired English professor from California University of Pennsylvania, Lapisardi had previously researched Andrew Carnegie because of the experiences of his Sicilian grandfather, who, after immigrating to the United States, obtained a skilled position with an unidentified steel company.

Arriving in 1892, the same year as the Homestead Steel strike, he was the victim of striking steel workers, who later beat him up when they discovered he was sent out to bring in other Italian workers during the strike. After the tussle, his wife took him back to Italy to recover from the altercation.

This incident and the Homestead strike got Lapisardi interested in Carnegie, so much so he began reading several biographies and even wrote a full-length play about Henry Clay Frick and Carnegie that partially touches on their roles in the Homestead strike. Titled “Lest Ye Be Judged,” he finished the play last year.

“I was intrigued by how a young Scot with two years of schooling went on to become one of the richest men in the world,” he said.

With Lapisardi’s resemblance to Carnegie, (he’s just two inches taller than the industrialist’s 5 feet, 2 inches) and a knowledge of his background, the Carnegie Library in Carnegie asked the Blainsburg resident to give a talk on the library’s namesake. When asked about a fee, he replied “How could Andrew Carnegie charge a fee to work at his own library?”

Since then he’s given presentations, for which he now charges a fee, at other libraries and Heinz Regional History Center in Pittsburgh’s Strip District. Sometimes, he’s asked to mingle with the crowd in period attire and pose for photographs. “I’ll often ask people how it feels to have their photo taken with a 182-year-old man,” Lapisardi joked.

Other times, he’ll give a talk that usually begins by explaining the reason why Carnegie decided to donate libraries around the world. “It’s because that’s how Carnegie learned – by borrowing books from the library of his patron, Col. James Anderson,” Lapisardi said.

Lapisardi said he varies the subject and focus of his talks and likes to tailor them to his audience. For instance, one time at the Heinz Regional History Center he talked to a group of Boy Scouts about the importance of getting an education, something high on Carnegie’s list of priorities.

For the past several years, Lapisardi has been invited to participate in the annual homecoming and spring carnivals at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh There, he likes to portray his lookalike in the year of 1914, the last time Carnegie visited Pittsburgh.

During his five-hour-long “gigs,” he mingles with the crowd, answers questions and once had his photo taken with a robot at the school famous for its Robotics Institute.

During breaks, a cardboard likeness of Carnegie stands in for his live impersonations.

Frequently, Lapisardi’s wife accompanies him as Carnegie’s wife Louise. Ironically, the age difference between the two pairs of couples is the same – 20 years.

“I really don’t impersonate Louise, although I do answer questions,” Jacqueline said. “I’m really more of a prop to Fred’s Carnegie.”

Lapisardi does consider his wife indispensable to his appearances. Now that his eyesight has failed, she’s not only needed to drive him to the venues but also to recognize people who’ve previously been introduced at the events.

Now that Carnegie Mellon University has found a suitable living facsimile for one of its two main benefactors, the question remains as to whom might fill the slot for the remaining namesake.

“I told the folks at Carnegie Mellon that it would be nice to have a Mellon presenter on board, but that it was up to them to find one,” Lapisardi said.

The couple’s appearances have also taken them to Fayette County, where they’ve developed a fanciful, fabricated story about a loan Carnegie purportedly lent banker/coal baron Josiah VanKirk Thompson when he was going bankrupt.

Told during Uniontown’s Ghost Walk, they stood in the wind outside the Thompson Bank Building the first night of the event. The following evening, they wisely moved across the street and sat on chairs in a sheltered area of the Chamber of Commerce Building.

Now five years into his work as a historical interpreter, Lapisardi as Carnegie has entertained and informed audiences all over the region.

“While it’s nice to get paid for what I do, I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t enjoy it,” he said.