Firms

For 50 years, the University City Science Center has been where scientists and start-ups have toiled to build the next generation of Philadelphia-area companies. But to hear science center president and CEO Stephen S. Tang , what would really help nurture that entrepreneurial soup would be if a big life-sciences company were to put its headquarters or research operations in West Philadelphia. Given that several of the biggest drug companies locally have already made long-term commitments elsewhere, there is nothing on the horizon presently.

The Corbett administration has ordered the cancellation of an $8.6 million PennDot contract with a Colorado firm implicated in a recent grand jury investigation of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission. The PennDot contract for information technology services with Ciber Inc., of Denver, will be put out to bid again, Corbett's office said. Dennis Miller, 51, a Ciber vice president, was one of eight people charged last month with crimes involving bribes, gifts, and campaign contributions in the award of Turnpike contracts.

  When Eric Heil was a senior systems engineering student at the University of Pennsylvania eight years ago, he volunteered to help a nursing-school professor with research aimed at helping doctors make better decisions about which elderly hospital patients needed additional care after discharge. Now 30, Heil is chief executive and cofounder, along with Kathryn H. Bowles, the nursing professor he worked with, of RightCare Solutions Inc., a Fort Washington firm that has licensed the information technology that came out of Bowles' research.

RAY JANNELLI, 49, of Hammonton, N.J., is the president and owner of Pro League Authentics, a sports-apparel company on 13th Street near Walnut. He founded the company in October 2011 after he left sports-apparel retailer Mitchell & Ness Co., where he had been a retail manager and buyer for 20 years. Q: What led you to start your own business? A: In 2007, Mitchell & Ness got sold to Adidas Group, and there was a void in the city for a locally owned, authentic pro shop like the original Mitchell & Ness.

When Eric Heil was a senior systems engineering student at the University of Pennsylvania eight years ago, he volunteered to help a nursing-school professor with research aimed at helping doctors make better decisions about which elderly hospital patients needed additional care after discharge. Now 30, Heil is chief executive and cofounder, along with Kathryn H. Bowles, the nursing professor he worked with, of RightCare Solutions Inc., a Fort Washington firm that has licensed the information technology that came out of Bowles' research.

The Pennsylvania Convention Center board of directors says it sought applicants from across the United States when it sent a "Request for Qualifications" last year, seeking private firms to show they could handle management, marketing, maintenance, and capital improvements at the sprawling, taxpayer-funded, under-used Center City complex. The firms that answered the call were all locally connected, say people familiar with the results. Two are already Convention Center contractors with specialized duties.

Francis P. McAleer, 78, of Maple Glen, who operated a tool company in Philadelphia's Germantown section for 25 years, died Monday, March 25, in a single-car accident near Millville, N.J. Mr. McAleer was driving north on Route 55 about 11 a.m. when his car went off the road and struck a tree, police said. He operated B&F Tool Shop in the 6300 block of Musgrave Street for 25 years before he retired in 1994. The company repaired large machines. Mr. McAleer was born on Feb. 24, 1935 in Philadelphia, the son of Francis and Katherine McAleer.

Venture-capital funds do not last forever, and Cross Atlantic Capital Partners has said it would wind down a $120 million fund it started in 1999. The Radnor firm, which has more than $500 million under management, said it would liquidate the tech fund's remaining portfolio holdings. Cross Atlantic said the decision came after several "successful exits, including three IPOs. " Those initial public offerings were Gain Capital Holdings Inc. , of Bedminster, N.J.; Rubicon Technology Inc. , of Bensenville, Ill.; and Vebnet Holdings P.L.C.

Francis J. Valtri, 91, of Schwenksville, a mechanical designer, died Friday, March 22, of complications from cancer in Abington Hospice at Warminster. Mr. Valtri, known as "Frank," was the founder of Valtri Associates Inc., a home-based manufacturer's representative for plastic furniture components. The firm was created in 1965. He later started Lavaco Industries Inc. to handle his own design and production of furniture parts. "He considered himself nonretired," said his wife, Jeanne Lynn Valtri.

Say goodbye to one of the 17 companies that made the Inc. 500 fastest-growing companies list in 2012. Transcend United Technologies L.L.C. , a Wayne information technology firm, was acquired last week by AGC Networks Inc. , a U.S. unit of an Indian conglomerate. The Inc. 500 list ranks privately held companies by their revenue growth over a three-year period. Transcend United was ranked No. 254 on last year's list, with revenue growth of 1,406 percent. The company is a systems integrator focused on unified communications and data centers that traces its origins to a Broomall software business founded in the early '80s known as Fastech Inc. Transcend United was formed from a November 2009 roll-up of four IT companies, including Fastech.