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Obituary: Edward A. Koch / Retired homicide detective
Sunday, February 18, 2001 By Joe Smydo, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
At home and on the job, Edward A. "Cookie" Koch was as sweet as his nickname implied.
"Too nice to be a policeman" was how some described Mr. Koch, said retired Pittsburgh homicide detective Domenick DeShantz.
Mr. Koch, 87, a Ross resident who served on the Pittsburgh police force for more than 20 years, died Feb. 10 while vacationing in Florida with his wife, Florance Burns Koch. He had been hospitalized since Jan. 28 with pneumonia and other ailments.
Positions with the police and fire departments were plum jobs for Bloomfield kids such as Mr. Koch, said his son, Edward R. Koch, of Penn Hills. Mr. Koch was a patrol officer, homicide detective and zone supervisor who retired as a lieutenant.
"He never used his gun, and he never used that stick," Florance Koch said.
In his personal life, too, Mr. Koch was mild-mannered.
His people skills made him a "smart cop," former homicide detective Alfred Yobbi said.
"He was well-known, and people confided in him," Yobbi said. "I mean, he could get information from the rackets or the honest people. ... He knew the good and the bad."
Only information about Mafia murders eluded him, Yobbi said.
Among police officers, Mr. Koch was a figure everybody wanted to be like, Yobbi said. "He could order people to do anything, and they would do it without question."
Navy service during World War II interrupted Mr. Koch's career. He served as a Navy police officer, responsible for guarding and transporting sailors who broke the rules.
After retiring from the police force, Mr. Koch worked as an investigator for the state Department of Revenue. He also lobbied for improvements in police pensions.
Mr. Koch was a standout lineman at Schenley High School, and he played sandlot football in Bloomfield. Three of Koch's grandchildren also proved to be gifted athletes, and he attended as many of their games as he could, his son said.
DeShantz, who knew Mr. Koch growing up in Bloomfield, said the teen-age Koch was a "handsome specimen" who attracted the girls' attention when he walked down the street.
The girls would chant, "Lookie, lookie, lookie, here comes Cookie," DeShantz said. "He'd just look over and smile."
In addition to his wife and son, Mr. Koch is survived by a daughter, Virginia Camerota of Morningside, five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
Visitation is from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. today at T.B. Devlin Funeral Home, 806 Perry Highway, Ross. The funeral will be at 11 a.m. tomorrow at St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church, Ross.
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