Vindicator file photo/ June 1984 | Twenty-five years ago, on Dec. 19, 1994, Edward J. DeBartolo Sr., who built one of the nation’s largest shopping and real estate empires, died at his Boardman home of complications from pneumonia. He was 85. In this 1984 Vindicator file photo, DeBartolo was speaking at a banquet honoring him as the YSU Alumni Association’s Distinguished Citizen. Seated was another nationally known developer from Youngstown, William Cafaro.

December 19

1994: Edward J. DeBartolo, who built one of the nation's largest shopping and real estate empires in the nation, dies at his Boardman home of complications from pneumonia. He was 85.

Bill Cowher's Pittsburgh Steelers defeat Bill Belichick's Cleveland Browns 17-7 to clinch the AFC Central Division title. 

Youngstown State University's Jim Tressel receives the Eddie Robinson Award as NCAA-IAA coach of the year. 

1979: The Youngstown Police Department's "holiday task force" scores again, capturing a robbery suspect and recovering the money minutes after a hold-up of the Hillside Grill, 508 Fifth Ave.     

William Lyden of Lyden Oil Co. in Youngstown predicts that price increases by oil-producing nations will have an effect at the pump over the coming months with a gallon of gas that now sells for 98 cents increasing by as much as 50 cents by April.

Congressional hearings will be held in Washington, D.C., and Youngstown to examine the possible connection between foreign steel imports and the closing of domestic steel facilities.

1969: Thieves steal a completely decorated live Christmas tree from the lobby of North Side Hospital. The same night, James Jones of 1635 Shehy St. reports that a nine-piece plastic Nativity set was stolen from his yard.  

Mahoning County, Boardman Township and Mill Creek Park officials are invited to a Dec. 29 meeting to discuss the pollution of park waters. The park board in 1962 the park board filed a $500,000 suit against the county commissioners to enjoin the county from dumping sewage into Lake Newport.

The Mellon-Stewart Co. of Youngstown is the apparent low bidder for a $1.9 million addition to Jameson Memorial Hospital in New Castle, Pa.

1944: Pvt. Bernard Mackall, 20, son of Mrs. Alda Mackall Newton of East Liverpool, last of the three sons of Mrs. Newton, is being returned to the United States under the War Department's police for the sole surviving son of a family that has lost two or more sons in the war. His brother, John, was killed in North Africa, and Gerald was killed in France.   

The Youngstown Hospital Association student chorus from the nurse’s training school sang Christmas carols over radio station WFMJ.

Emanuel Mansfield, noted Negro tenor, will give a concert in Stambaugh Auditorium sponsored by the Youngstown Women's Council of the Navy League.