Nicholas C. Mitchell, who went from working as a boy in his family's McKees Rocks bar to owning a successful Butler County steel fiber firm, died Wednesday. He was 79.

Mr. Mitchell, of Pine, died from complications of multiple surgeries, said his son, George Mitchell, of Mars.

The elder Mr. Mitchell was only 12 when his father died, leading him to go to work at the family's bar and restaurant on Chartiers Avenue. He worked there through high school and his graduation from the University of Pittsburgh, and became co-owner of another bar, the Island Avenue Hotel, in Stowe.

By the 1950s, Mr. Mitchell and his wife, Grace -- they married in 1953 -- were raising a large family, and he'd had enough of the long hours in the hotel-restaurant business. He sold everything and moved to McCandless. His only plan, he told his son, "was to sit on my [rear end] for three months" and figure out what to do.

Soon a neighbor asked him to tour his manufacturing company in New Castle and the next phase of his life began.

Mr. Mitchell would become a partner at New Castle's Ingot Aid -- making sideboards and hot tops for steel ingots -- and eventually buy the firm. He would later sell it, which became a bit of pattern. Working out of a bedroom at home, he began a new firm called Mitchell Industrial Sales Co. that dabbled in all kinds of different businesses.

Through the 1970s, he bought and sold Pittsburgh Key Bolt and Forgings; started Security Limousine Co., which hired weapons-carrying ex-drivers for Gulf Oil to shuttle corporate executives; and another firm, Paralegal Support Services, a temp agency.

"He was a true entrepreneur. He tried a lot of different things," said George Mitchell, who with his brother Nicholas, of Pine, would work with their father on his next venture, Fibercon International.

The firm started as a Carnegie Mellon University research project in the 1950s, funded by U.S. Steel, in an attempt to find new ways to use steel to reinforce concrete. U.S. Steel shuttered the Evans City Fibercon plant in 1979, and Mr. Mitchell stepped in to purchase it in 1981.

He remained involved in the business until about 18 months ago, his son said, when the effects of Parkinson's disease, prostate cancer and other maladies began catching up to him. His wife died in 1997.

In addition to his sons George and Nicholas, Mr. Mitchell also is survived by two sons, Dennis of Maitland, Fla., and Max of Weston, Conn.; one daughter, Grace Lynne Mitchell of St. Petersburg, Fla.; three sisters, Mildred Caridis of Upper St. Clair, Athena Malanos of Peters, and Helen Kontis of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; longtime companion Judith Sherrill; and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Visitation will be from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. at the H.P. Brandt Funeral Home, 1032 Perry Highway, Ross, where a service will be held at 10:30 a.m. tomorrow. Interment will follow at Allegheny County Memorial Park, McCandless.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Parkinson Foundation of Western Pennsylvania, 6507 Wilkins Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15217.

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