David J. D'Appolonia was an accomplished engineer, entrepreneur and financier of early-stage businesses who later in life put his passion and money into supporting social projects like the Mentoring Partnership of Southwestern Pennsylvania and the Propel Schools, a group of charter schools in economically depressed areas.

In 2001, he began his philanthropy through an association with Pittsburgh Social Ventures Partners, a nearly decade-old group whose members invest time, expertise and capital in innovative nonprofit groups that serve at-risk youth.

Through that organization he discovered his "mission" to use his vast business skills to relieve poverty, child abuse and neglect and homelessness, said his daughter, Caroline Barmen of Squirrel Hill.

Mr. D'Appolonia, of Shadyside, died on Sunday in Rye, N.Y., where he was visiting friends for Thanksgiving.

An avid outdoorsman who enjoyed fishing and mountain climbing, he died after returning from a jog.

He was 62.

A native of Alberta, Canada, Mr. D'Appolonia grew up in Penn Hills. He attended St. Vincent High School, where he played football.

He earned his bachelor's degree in engineering from Carnegie Mellon University in 1965 and his doctorate in 1968 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the school at which he begin his engineering career as an assistant professor.

From 1968 to 1972, he was a professor and researcher in the geotechnical division of MIT's civil engineering department and consulted on earthquake and infrastructure problems related to building subways, subsidence issues, foundations and tunnels.

In 1972, in Pittsburgh, he founded Engineered Construction Inc., a geotechnical contractor specializing in ground improvement and earth construction.

In 1980, he founded D'Appolonia Waste Management Services, an environmental cleanup contractor with a staff of engineers, scientists and construction personnel. By the time Mr. D'Appolonia sold the firm in 2003 to International Technology Corp., it had grown to $35 million in sales.

He remained with ITC as a senior executive and was there to see the company become one of the largest environmental contractors in the world, with revenues surpassing $2 billion.

From 1988 until 2000, he was an active investor in a number of small businesses, an entrepreneur and a principal in a small business. During this time, he served as president of PDGE, an environmental contractor, and as a managing partner of Saturn Asset Management, a small investment banking company.

Mr. D'Appolonia enjoyed sunsets and picnics on the Nantucket beaches. He owned two small vineyards in France that produced Armagnac and a fine Bordeaux.

He is survived by his wife, Eileen Mauclair D'Appolonia; his parents, Elio and Tina D'Appolonia of Penn Hills; two other daughters, Christine Sprague and Anne Dickson, both of Brooklyn; brothers Kenneth of Squirrel Hill, Michael of Portland, Maine, and Mark; a sister, Linda Knecht; and four grandchildren.

Arrangements were handled by McCabe Brothers Funeral Home, Shadyside.