On October 27, 2018, during Shabbat morning services at Tree of Life Synagogue in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh, seven were injured and eleven tragically killed in what is now being recorded as the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in United States history. Unfortunately, the OLLI community also suffered the impact of this horrific event: Joyce Fienberg, member of OLLI at Carnegie Mellon University and Dan Stein, husband of OLLI at University of Pittsburgh member Sharon Stein, had their lives tragically cut short. Furthermore, former member and long-term curriculum committee member, Dan Leger of Carnegie Mellon's OLLI, was counted as one of the injured in the attack. The collective OLLI community mourns for these heartbreaking losses, as well as those of the other synagogue attendees in this horrific act of violence.

In a letter to the Pittsburgh Osher Institutes, Bernard Osher and Mary Bitterman of The Bernard Osher Foundation acknowledged the widespread impact of the attack. " We recognize that each institute has suffered profoundly with the loss of a member, the loss of a member's spouse, and the loss of friends and neighbors from the Squirrel Hill neighborhood and its environs," they wrote. They also offered words of comfort for the community, encouraging its leadership and members to "do everything within our power to promote kindness, understanding, and mutual respect."

In the spirit of that letter, Sharon Gretz, Director of the OLLI at University of Pittsburgh, took the time to sit with groups of OLLI members as they remembered their friends and neighbors, learning a lot along the way about the histories of those individual members. One talked about feeling targeted a bit as a Jewish youth, but concluded overall that Pittsburgh was safe for him and his family. Another member spoke about how she had joined OLLI so she could meet non-Jews, and that the first non-Jews to contact her after the massacre were the friends she had made at OLLI. Similarly, Lyn Decker, Executive Director of OLLI at Carnegie Mellon, chose to keep OLLI open for those that wanted to come and share their stories, observing that "many have found it comforting to have another place to go for hugs and to just talk." She also arranged with the university for the Osher at CMU community to obtain free counseling to help cope with the emotional impact of this horrific event.

In spite of the sadness and grief, Sharon Gretz also addressed her OLLI community with the feelings of hope and encouragement she felt in the aftermath of the attack. "In the end, what mattered today and what I believe matters each and every day is community," she reaffirmed. "I am so proud to be part of our OLLI community. I believe that this horrendous tragedy will help us become even more inclusive and welcoming of the stranger and that we will find ways for love to shatter hate."