But it was his leadership, business acumen and personality that drove the company to become a convenience store empire and a giant among Pennsylvania businesses.

So says his brother, who retired from day-to-day operations in 1984 and moved to Florida.

Sheetz now operates more than 800 stores in seven states (Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, Ohio and Michigan) and employs more than 27,000.

It has been consistently ranked by Fortune Magazine among the nation’s top places to work, and last year reported revenue of $14 billion.

In this file photo from November 2020, Steve Sheetz (left) watches his brother Bob Sheetz photograph the monument at the site of the original Sheetz Kwik Shopper store along Union Avenue in Altoona. Mirror file photo by Patrick Waksmunski /

Bob Sheetz, now 91, has been quick to deflect much of the credit to Steve, who passed away Sunday at UPMC Altoona from respiratory complications at the age of 77. Please see obituary, Page A4.

“Without hesitation, I would say Steve has been the leader in the family,” Bob said, calling his younger brother “extremely instrumental in the company’s growth. I couldn’t be more proud of him. The things he’s done, what he’s accomplished, the way people looked up to him. He had leader written all over him.”

Steve is survived by his wife, Nancy, daughters, Megan and Nikki, seven grandchildren and six siblings — brothers, Jim, Bob, Charlie and Lou, and sisters, Nancy Boling and Marjorie Folcarelli. Another brother, Joe, died in 2006.

Though her father was the third-youngest of eight children, Megan said: “He was the patriarch of the family.”

Six of Bob’s seven siblings worked at Sheetz in various capacities in the early years, and it didn’t take long for Steve to distinguish himself.

Blair County Arts Foundation 2015 Angel of the Arts award recipients Steve and Nancy Sheetz speak during the annual “A Night for the Mishler” gala fundraiser dinner at the Heritage Discovery Center on March 21, 2015. Mirror file photo by Patrick Waksmunski

“It made a big difference when he started working for my brother Bob,” Boling said. “Things just took off, and a lot of it was his doing.”

Steve became the company president and CEO in 1984, after Bob transitioned into retirement, and he remained in that capacity until 1996 when he became the chairman of the board and then chairman of the Sheetz Family Council.

“Steve was the main guy who made it grow,” said Folcarelli, who is eight years younger than Bob and six years older than Steve. “The family members always referred to him as Coach.”

“Steve’s guidance shaped nearly every aspect of our family business,” said Joe Sheetz, current chairman of the Sheetz board of directors and Steve’s nephew. “He was a mentor for every leader who has followed him and his vision, wisdom and entrepreneurial spirit will be missed deeply by everyone at Sheetz.”

Community impact

Steve Sheetz became the company president and CEO in 1984, and is credited by family and colleagues alike as being instrumental in the company’s growth. Mirror file photo

Steve’s mentorship extended beyond the family and the business and into his involvement in the community, which is reeling from the loss of perhaps its most influential and respected member over the past few decades.

“How in the world would anyone be able to create an appropriate legacy for Steve Sheetz,” questioned Joe Hurd, who retired in 2024 as chief executive officer from the Blair County Chamber of Commerce. “If we based it strictly on what we know he’s accomplished, it would still be a shallow representation of the full picture. What he’s done behind the scenes is every bit as impressive.

“Like pretty much all aspects of Steve’s life, the business community would be incapable of recognizing his impact. He’s done so much for so many,” he said.

Hurd said the “Sheetz story” has added to community pride.

“Clearly, Sheetz has ranked near the top in total revenue for all Pennsylvania businesses and is at the pinnacle of the convenience store market,” Hurd said. “The Sheetz story has had widespread appeal and its continued growth pushes it up the national lists of top performers. In Blair County, it’s the consummate bragging point to visitors and to local travelers. And Steve Sheetz, from the very beginning, has been the company’s most recognizable figure.”

Nancy and Steve Sheetz are seen in May 2014 as Steve was presented the Blair County Philanthropy Award. Mirror file photo

Philanthropy champion

Sheetz, a 1965 graduate of Altoona High School, championed philanthropy. He and his wife, Nancy, are the largest donors in Penn State Altoona history, having committed $38 million through 2030 via the Sheetz Fellows scholarship program.

He graduated from Penn State in 1969 after spending a year at PSU Altoona.

“No leaders have done more for our region than the Sheetz family, and we are honored that we can carry forward their family’s name and values on our campus,” Ron Darbeau, Penn State Altoona chancellor and associate vice president for commonwealth campuses, said when the Sheetz gift was announced last year.

Donna Bon has served as coordinator for the Sheetz Fellows, which began in 2009 and extends scholarships to 30 students per year. The program emphasizes academic accountability, community service and provides a professional mentor.

“I struggle to find words that fully capture Steve’s contributions or the impact he has had on the students in the Sheetz Fellows program,” Bon said. “What I do know is this: Steve changed lives. Our alumni frequently tell us they felt at least three years ahead of their peers after graduating from the Sheetz Fellows program. They still kept in touch with Steve, and when they were facing a career decision or needed guidance, he was the first person they called.”

Sheetz himself visited a dozen times per semester, three times for each class, and he and Nancy accompanied the students for their senior trip abroad that the program funded.

“He taught them about management versus leadership, crisis management and so much more,” Bon said. “But the most meaningful moments were always the open�’forum discussions, when students could ask him anything. At the end of class or at events, students lined up to take photos with him, wanting to capture a moment with someone who had shaped their lives so profoundly.

“Steve had a remarkable ability to make every student feel seen, supported and inspired. He pushed them to grow both personally and professionally. I often tell students that when I look into their eyes, I see the legacy Mr. Sheetz has left in each one of them.”

Steve and Nancy were also named Penn State’s Philanthropists of the Year in 2010.

Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi said, “Steve and Nancy Sheetz are truly visionary leaders for Penn State Altoona and central Pennsylvania.”

In addition to Penn State, Sheetz has provided leadership gifts to numerous charities, most notably Pennsylvania Special Olympics, the Mishler Theatre (the downstairs Spiritz lounge is named in their honor), St. Vincent de Paul Soup Kitchen, the Central Pennsylvania Humane Society, the Blair County Historical Society, Operation Our Town, the Altoona Rotary Club, the Blair County Sports Hall of Fame and the ARC of Blair County, which has a building named after his brother’s Charlie’s late wife, Becky.

“Steve was a community treasure,” Bob Pennington, a long-time friend said, adding Sheetz was “intuitively brilliant in business, always willing to contribute money to causes he believed in and a loyal friend.”

Place in history

Michael Farrow, who chronicles local history, was hard-pressed to identify anyone who has contributed more to the betterment of Blair County.

He called Steve and Nancy “major pillars,” adding their “remarkable generosity” of the Mishler, Penn State Altoona, Baker Mansion, Altoona Area School District and downtown Altoona helps ensure “long-term viability” to those entities “that mean so much to Altoona and all the citizens of Blair County.”

“While supporting the preservation of Altoona’s past, Steve and Nancy Sheetz also enriched the present,” Farrow said. “As a historian, looking back on Blair County’s past, I can truly say that the Steve and Nancy Sheetz legacy is among the greatest in philanthropic contributions to Altoona and Blair County.”

Altoona Mayor Matthew Pacifico joined hundreds of commenters on Sheetz’s passing.

“It is with great sadness that I have learned, along with the rest of our city, about the passing of Steve Sheetz,” he said. “We are so grateful for his contributions to the City and to the community. Steve had a genuine, tangible love for the City of Altoona, as shown by his contributions, actions and initiatives. We send our sincere sympathy to Steve’s family during this difficult time, as well as immense gratitude for his lasting contributions to our city and its residents, that will be his legacy for years to come.”

Saved Soup Kitchen

Sister Paula DelGrosso, who operates the St. Vincent de Paul Soup Kitchen, said Sheetz “literally saved our soup kitchen.”

He purchased a new freezer and regularly provides food, equipment and maintenance.

“I feel he was the most genuine, sincere, caring, giving person I have ever met,” DelGrosso said. “He was blessed by God, and he was inspired to share those blessings with all who were not so blessed. He and his wife, Nancy, who was our first volunteer at the soup kitchen — together, along with their company, have remained faithful to our ministry to this day.”

A picture of Steve and Nancy hangs at the Soup Kitchen and, DelGrosso said, “He didn’t even want that.”

In addition to higher-profile gifts, Sheetz often contributed to various causes anonymously.

“He had immense humility,” Megan Sheetz said. “He never, ever wanted anything to be about himself. But it is he who pushed forward a lot of the innovation and a lot of the generosity and so much of the philanthropy.”

Loved to travel

Steve was the first Sheetz to become president of the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACs) and was then followed by nephews Stan (Bob’s son) and Joe (his nephew).

Sheetz loved to travel. Lee Hite and his wife, Jane, made countless trips all over the world with Steve and Nancy along with the late Don and Nancy Devorris, the late Bill and Judy Rossman and, in recent years, Dr. Ziad Khoury and his wife, Nada.

Hite said it’s difficult to appropriately summarize Sheetz’s legacy because “the range of his accomplishments seem larger than life.”

He called his friend “a great humanitarian, a philanthropic force and a titan of leadership.”

Simply, Hite said, “Steve had an ingrained attitude to make a difference — and his mission was accomplished.”

Dave Andrews, another close friend, was part of an annual tennis trip with Sheetz.

“That’s where we saw that Steve was also a really fun person,” Andrews said. “He was such a positive influence at all times. Even with all of his health challenges, he was always upbeat. He was a leader that touched all segments of the community.”

Inspired family

Megan said she and her sister Nikki drew inspiration from their parents.

“He and my mother are simple people who live pretty simple lives,” Megan said. “He lived in the same house that we grew up in. He drove the same car for many years. Despite his success, he was a humble person who didn’t believe he was any better than anyone else. It is my favorite thing about him.”

“A lot of the family moved to Florida, but he never left,” she added. “This place meant a lot to him. All he ever wanted was what was best for the family and community.”

‘Grateful and lucky’

Steve had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of leukemia in 2011, and though his recent health issues were not cancer-related, they took their toll with multiple surgeries over the last 15 years.

“Most of all, he was grateful because his treatment allowed for extended quality time with his family, especially his grandchildren,” Megan said.

In an interview last year, Nancy called his initial leukemia bout, which required frequent trips to the renown MD Anderson Center in Houston, “a dark time in our lives.”

Most of his grandchildren were quite young, and several are now in college.

“I remember thinking, ‘If I just get to see them become teenagers, where I can get to know their personalities, I’ll be satisfied,” Steve said last year. “They were four-five years old at the time. And I’ll be damned, I’ve gotten through that. Everything from here is a bonus.”

Sheetz had been in the Cleveland Clinic over the past two weeks but returned home for Christmas Eve before being hospitalized again last Sunday, Dec. 28. (In 2019, he donated

$4 million to the Cleveland facility to train physicians in the United States about the genetic disease that he and his brothers had, so physicians could be better prepared to treat patients with polyposis conditions).

The photo for the family’s annual Christmas card was taken on Thanksgiving Day, and “he looked really good,” Megan said.

But when his health deteriorated rapidly in the last month, Megan said her dad accepted his fate, decided against invasive treatment and told his family he’s been “grateful and lucky.”

He was also “intentional and courageous,” Megan said.

His final days were spent at UPMC Altoona, surrounded by his family.

Khoury brought in a bottle of his favorite wine.

All his grandchildren were here and “did not leave his side for hours and hours each day,” Megan said.

“He was telling stories and cracking jokes and eating his favorite snacks — apple fritters from Sheetz,” she said. “These past few days have been a total blessing for us. I cannot imagine a better ending to such a remarkable life.”

Despite being small in physical stature — “5-6 or 5-7,” Megan said — the shadow Sheetz cast touched practically every local organization, and Hurd is confident what he stood for will endure.

“Steve invested in businesses, and he invested in people,” he said. “There’s little doubt that Steve’s greatest satisfaction came from seeing others, particularly young people, find success. The Sheetz Corp. will continue to flourish. It has done too many things the right way, prepared too many quality employees within a DNA that has stood the test of time and built a spirit of benevolence that is hard to duplicate. Steve Sheetz spent his whole working life guaranteeing that. For that, and so much more, he will be missed.”