Glenn Cannon, an emergency services pioneer whose career began during his time as a student at IUP, has passed away at the age of 71.
Cannon, who served as the secretary of the IUP Council of Trustees, graduated from the university in 1971 after serving with Citizens Ambulance Service and as a volunteer with the Indiana Fire Association.
He helped found what later became Pittsburgh’s Emergency Medical Services Department in 1975, the city’s first River Rescue Unit, its Specialized Rescue Units, and its first Hazmat team, and was Pittsburgh’s public safety director from 1986 to 1992. He was chief operating officer/manager of Allegheny County and also worked as director of disaster operations with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and was the director of the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency.
Cannon received the IUP Distinguished Alumni Award in 1985 and the Presidential Legacy Award for Civic Service in 2010. He also served as IUP’s commencement speaker in May 2010.
Cannon had recently been ill. His funeral arrangements are in the care of the McCabe Brothers Funeral Home in Pittsburgh.
