About Andrew

Biography

Andrew J. Kuzneski Jr. made his mark on the Indiana County area as a successful business professional, a volunteer in community service and as an elected leader of the county.

Kuzneski was born in 1940 in Allegheny County, but called Indiana County his home from 1953 when his family moved to White Township and started a potato farm. He began his insurance business, A.J. Kuzneski Jr. Inc., in 1966 and was joined by his youngest brother, Anthony, and his oldest son, Andrew Kuzneski III. Known today as Kuzneski Financial Group, the company is celebrating its 50th anniversary. Active in community organizations, Kuzneski volunteered on the original board of directors of the Visiting Nurse Association beginning in 1970, and served several terms as president. He sat on the VNA/Hospice Foundation board as a director and president, and helped to guide those agencies for almost 40 years.

He served on the boards of directors of First Commonwealth Insurance Agency and Delaware National Bank Insurance Agency. Kuzneski served as chairman of the board for First National Bank of Spangler and the Merchants Bank of Shenandoah. He also was the president of Berkshire Securities and a board member at First National Bank of Santa Fe and The First National Bank of Leesport.

Kuzneski was elected to the Indiana County board of commissioners in 1971 and served as chairman for his four-year term.

His community service also included terms as a director of the Indiana County Chamber of Commerce, and its president in 1993 and 1994; as a director of the Blairsville Workman Mutual Aid Society; as a member and president of the Indiana Rotary Club; and as a director of the Indiana County Sheltered Workshop.

He was a member of the Pennsylvania Bankers Association, American Bankers Association, and Community Bankers Association of Pennsylvania.

In Indiana, Kuzneski was a member of the Indiana Country Club, the American Legion, the Historical and Genealogical Society of Indiana County and the Mental Health Association of Indiana County, along with many boards in the Pittsburgh region. It was said that he served on 29 different boards at one time.

The Boy Scouts of the area presented the Distinguished Citizen Award to Kuzneski in 2003, and he was named a Civic Leader of the Year in 1989.

Kuzneski graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 1962, where he was a three-year letterman on the football team and won the Iron Man award for most time played in his junior year. He served as the president of Pitt Golden Panthers and the University of Pittsburgh Alumni Association, and was a trustee of the University of Pittsburgh from 1998 until his death.

Dedicated to the University of Pittsburgh and Indiana Area Senior High School athletic programs, Kuzneski was a trustee of the Indiana Booster Club and was inducted into the Indiana County Sports Hall of Fame in 1989.

Kuzneski passed away in June 2007.

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