Thomas Brooks grew up in Pittsburgh with an adoring divorced mother who struggled to take care of him, loving grandparents, aunts, uncles, loads of cousins and a great sense of family.

	Thomas Brooks Click photo for larger image.

Still there was something missing in the story of this high achiever who became the first African-American valedictorian at New Brighton High School and a University of Pittsburgh grad who went on to earn an MBA from the University of Maryland.

So in 1992 at age 25, Mr. Brooks followed up on what his mother, Joan Lowry Brooks, told him at age 11 -- he was adopted.

His subsequent search led him to two continents, two vastly different cultures and the creation of his fascinating book, "A Wealth of Family: An Adopted Son's International Quest for Heritage, Reunion and Enrichment."

Mr. Brooks, now 40 and a Houston businessman, will talk about "Diversity and Building Bridges Across Cultural Barriers" at noon Friday at the University of Pittsburgh.

Mr. Brooks definitely knows of what he speaks. As a child growing up mostly on the North Side, his complexion fit in with fair-skinned relatives of his adoptive mother.

However, he would later learn that his biological mother was white and a descendant of Lithuanian Jews. His father was a member of the Kisii ethnic group in western Kenya.

Initially, when his mother told him he was adopted, he was resentful, he said. "It was hard; the secrecy surprised me," Mr. Brooks said. "You feel a little misled in that situation."

Eventually he realized that because of the love, care and sacrifices Joan Brooks made for him, she was his real mother. After moving to New Brighton in Beaver County, Mr. Brooks continued his focus on academics and sports, earning a scholarship to attend Pitt.

When he eventually contacted the agency that handled his adoption, he learned his biological mother had grown up in the Cheswick area and attended Fox Chapel High School. Dorothy Blazier met Mboga Mageeka Omwenga at Penn State when she was a 19-year-old freshman and he a 26-year-old graduate student.

Ms. Blazier had considered an abortion and even flew to Sweden to get the procedure, which was illegal in the United States at the time. But it was too late in her pregnancy, and she returned home to tell her parents.

She was a young woman, having a half-black child out of wedlock in 1966. "It was a different time in terms of empowerment for women," Mr. Brooks said. Not knowing how she would work, finish school and care for an infant, too, adoption seemed the only choice.

As for his father, Mr. Brooks said he felt equally powerless about the situation since he was African and a foreign student. Unbeknownst to Mr. Brooks, after he contacted the adoption agency, it contacted his biological grandmother, who still lived in the Cheswick area. She in turn contacted Dorothy, who was married and living in England.

Soon, Mr. Brooks received a one-page letter from his biological mother. Six months later she flew to Pittsburgh and in September 1992, Mr. Brooks met his biological mother and maternal grandmother, Maryan Blazier, for the first time.

"One thing that was important for me was I thanked her for not having an abortion, which may sound weird to some, but it was important to me in that moment," Mr. Brooks said. "My reunion with my biological mother meant a lot to me, but I would say it meant a lot to her. She had to sort of relive those tough decisions she had to make."

Another thing that was important was ensuring his adoptive mother, Joan, that their relationship would not change.

The following year, he flew to London to meet his four half-siblings there. They've also individually visited him in the United States.

The success of those connections inspired him to look for his father. Dorothy accompanied him to Kenya to carry out the search. In Kenya, he began networking and putting out feelers, including a newspaper ad looking for a Mboga.

Through Mr. Brooks' networking, he met two uncles, Roberts Omwenga and Henderson Magare. They were a bit skeptical at first, but when they pulled out a photo of Mboga, Dorothy confirmed that it was her college beau.

During Mr. Brooks' last night in Kenya, he received a call from his half-sister, Margaret Omwenga, who had been alerted to the ad.

Ms. Omwenga borrowed money and took an all-night bus ride to make it to that part of Kenya by the next morning to meet him. His father was out of the country during that January 1994 trip. But seven months later Mr. Brooks returned to Kenya and met his father.

"It was wonderful; I had a tangible connection to him and to Africa," he said. "Many African-Americans, because of slavery, have been robbed of their connection to Africa."

During a subsequent trip that took him to his family's original mountain village, he met his grandmother, Kemunto, who was about 100 years old.

In a scene reminiscent of Alex Haley in "Roots," Mr. Brooks was greeted by about 500 people.

On Christmas Eve 1998, Mr. Brooks' two mothers, Dorothy and Joan, met for lunch on Mount Washington. The next day they gathered for Christmas with the uncles, aunts and cousins, with whom Mr. Brooks grew up.

"Dorothy was very happy to see the love of the Lowry family. Joan was just thankful to have the son that she wanted," he said.

Mr. Brook's talk, noon Friday in Benedum Hall, Room 1175, is free and open to the public.