Lake Fong, Post-Gazette
	Yarone Zober -- A potential deputy mayor should Mr. O'Connor become temporarily disabled by cancer.

Yarone S. Zober has never been entirely comfortable on big stages.

"Pretty nerve wracking" is how he described the experience, 13 years ago, of playing The Baker in the musical "Into the Woods" at Benedum Center. A Peabody senior, he was a nominee for the Gene Kelly Award for Excellence in High School Musical Theater.

Last month, he was just as unnerved by another role, as a key piece in a political chess match between factions in Mayor Bob O'Connor's administration, which ended with one side wiped from the board.

Mr. Zober, 31, long an actor and singer, is director of the city's General Services Department and viewed by some as a potential deputy mayor should Mr. O'Connor become temporarily disabled by cancer.

"There's nothing to say about that," the Highland Park man said last week when asked about speculation that he might become the mayor's stand-in. "I just keep doing my job."

For Mr. Zober, though, it has never been just about the job.

First child of a Peace Corps manager and a social worker, he's a fifth-generation Pittsburgher. He has another set of roots, he said, that feeds everything he does.

He was born in Israel on a kibbutz, where his Jewish parents, from Stanton Heights, were temporarily working. Later, he lived in Jerusalem for six years and absorbed the Jewish tradition of Tikkun Olam, or "repairing the world."

"Every day, you find out what's broken and try to fix it," he said.

After graduating from Peabody and the University of Pittsburgh, with a bachelor of arts degree in 1997, he put that philosophy to work. He joined the federal AmeriCorps community service program, removing lead paint from low-income houses and conducting elementary school assemblies on the danger of the neurotoxic metal.

One day in 1997, his AmeriCorps role took him to the City-County Building, where he participated in a ceremony for Lead Free Pittsburgh Day and handed out pamphlets. An avid Pirates fan, he was wearing a button in support of a plan to boost the sales tax to fund new stadiums.

The button caught the eye of then-city Councilman Jim Ferlo, who opposed the plan and, unprovoked, lit into the young volunteer.

Mr. Zober parried Mr. Ferlo's arguments. "I was impressed with Yarone for his willingness to stand on his own two feet and put up with someone like me," said Mr. Ferlo, now a state senator.

The next day, Mr. Ferlo offered Mr. Zober a job in his office.

"I didn't really think of myself as going into politics," Mr. Zober said. "It was always about public service, and it still is."

While working for Mr. Ferlo, he earned a master's of public management degree from Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz School. He also learned political combat, as Mr. Ferlo joined Mr. O'Connor's second unsuccessful bid to oust Mayor Tom Murphy in 2001.

Mr. Zober continued on the small stage, joining the dinner theater cast at The Stage at la Place in Mt. Lebanon, and later the singing group In Acchord.

In 1999, he married Kathryn Kellner, a school librarian.

Mr. Zober started law school at Pitt and, for one year, "busted my tail," he said He was not able to be as single-minded during his second year in law school because he and Stephen Bruder, another aide to Mr. Ferlo, persuaded the councilman to run for a state Senate seat. Mr. Zober threw himself into the campaign while trying to keep up his studies.

He briefly returned to working for Mr. Ferlo, helping set up the new senator's local office.

In 2003, after graduating with honors, he joined the law firm Reed Smith so he "could earn as much money as my parents ever did, combined," in a short time, he said.

He wouldn't stay long enough to meet that mark.

"I didn't feel I was making the positive change I wanted to make," he said. Last year, he moved to a smaller firm, Obermayer Rebmann Maxwell & Hippel.

"He absolutely jumped, both feet in, to understand an issue or a problem," said Dave Nasatir, a partner at that firm who worked with Mr. Zober. "We'd be working late on projects and, occasionally, his wife would come down to the office and have dinner with him, and she'd go back home and he'd stay and work longer.

"He's got that unique talent of making a friend out of everybody. It broke my heart to see him leave."

Even as he pursued a law career, he kept one foot in the political sphere. He became president of the Pennsylvania Young Democrats.

He served on a state commission on business tax reform. That bipartisan, 12-member commission faced tough, polarizing issues, and Mr. Zober was "a conciliatory member," said state Revenue Secretary Greg Fajt, who headed the effort.

"Yarone was able to quickly analyze those disparate points of view and figure out what would and wouldn't work," Mr. Fajt said. Some of the commission's recommendations have already become law.

Mr. Zober joined the board of the Highland Park Community Development Corp., using his legal skills to help that group buy and renovate a nuisance apartment building, plus finance the construction of houses.

During last year's Democratic mayoral primary campaign, much of the rest of young, progressive Pittsburgh gravitated to Councilman William Peduto or Allegheny County Prothonotary Michael Lamb. Mr. Zober hosted a fund-raiser for Mr. O'Connor and donated $1,500.

"I was disappointed that he wasn't with us in the mayor's race," said Mr. Peduto, who counts Mr. Zober as a friend and finished second to Mr. O'Connor in last year's Democratic primary. "I understood that his loyalty to Jim Ferlo, and Sen. Ferlo's commitment to Bob O'Connor, were important to him."

When Mr. O'Connor won, Mr. Zober became part of the transition effort, working with Dennis Regan, now the mayor's chief of staff. Mr. Regan said he often deputized Mr. Zober to sort through difficult issues, come up with a range of options and make a recommendation.

When Mr. O'Connor became mayor, Mr. Zober was named policy director. Though he reported to then-Chief of Staff B.J. Leber, he worked closely with Mr. Regan, then director of intergovernmental affairs. The two men often joined each other for smoke breaks under the City-County Building portico.

It was usually Mr. Zober, rather than Mr. Regan, who explained administration positions to council. Perhaps unique among administration members, he proved able to master details, achieve results and massage egos simultaneously.

"Yarone is a hybrid between a politico and a policy wonk," Mr. Peduto said.

After Mr. O'Connor was diagnosed with primary central nervous system lymphoma last month, the administration's cast fell to infighting. Mr. Zober found himself in a starring role.

On July 24, Mr. Regan brought an order, signed by Mr. O'Connor in UPMC Shadyside Hospital, nominating Mr. Zober to direct the General Services Department, a unit which the mayor had sought to phase out.

Some city officials interpreted that as a precursor to naming Mr. Zober deputy mayor, and giving him control of operations, should the mayor be temporarily disabled. Ms. Leber and Solicitor Susan Malie took steps that undermined that possibility, and, in Mr. Regan's view, undercut the mayor's intentions.

On July 27, the mayor called in to a staff meeting and fired Ms. Leber, Ms. Malie and Finance Director Paul Leger.

In the musical "Into the Woods," The Baker's quest for a child led to calamity, showing that selfish wishes inevitably backfire. As if his high school role is still on his mind, Mr. Zober refused to talk about possibly serving as deputy mayor.

He said he was trying to fold up the General Services Department by year's end. While doing that, he'd like to convert some city vehicles to use clean-burning biodiesel fuels, reduce energy costs and inventory city buildings, perhaps selling some.

It's all part of Tikkun Olam, he said. "Every day, you try to find out what's broken and try to fix it. There are a lot of problems the city faces, and we have to find solutions."