For most of his 82 years, Torrence M. Hunt Sr. lived in the shadow of Alcoa, the company his grandfather founded, his father headed, and where he worked all his adult life before retiring as vice president in 1982.

"He lived and breathed the company. He always referred to the company as 'we,'" recalled his son, Torrence M. Hunt Jr.

Even after Mr. Hunt retired, he followed the aluminum maker's financial progress with a keen, learned eye. In good years, when Alcoa turned a profit and sales soared, he would say, "We did well," his son recalled.

Mr. Hunt began his career in sales and was always looking for new ways to use aluminum.

"Our house was filled with prototypes for new aluminum products," his son said. There were aluminum tables, baseball bats and even an aluminum violin, painted to look like a Stradivarius, the famously crafted wooden instrument. But the sound, Torrence Hunt Jr. recalled, left much to be desired.

Mr. Hunt, a longtime Shadyside resident, died Sunday at Select Specialty Hospital, Uptown, of lung disease.

"As word spread across the company about his death, it was met with great sadness," said Alcoa spokesman Kevin Lowery. "He was deeply involved, as was his family, in this city and with this company. He did great things for Alcoa."

Mr. Hunt began working at Alcoa in 1947, not long after he was discharged from the Army, where he was a first lieutenant in the Ordnance Corps and served in the Pacific during World War II.

One of his first posts was at Alcoa's Philadelphia sales office. By the early 1950s, he was back in Pittsburgh, where he was director of college recruitment. He was later credited with bringing to the company many of the young people who would go on to become Alcoa's top executives.

In 1955, he was promoted to advertising manager, later moving up to general manager for advertising and promotion.

His work in advertising earned him professional honors and recognition, including the presidency of the Pittsburgh Advertising Club. In 1957, he was named "Man of the Year" by Industrial Advertising magazine.

In 1965, he was tapped to become Alcoa's manager of trade relations. Five years later, he became an Alcoa vice president.

When he retired in 1982, the company noted that Mr. Hunt had "contributed importantly" to some of Alcoa's important consumer-product promotions, including the introduction of Alcoa Wrap and Alcoa building products.

Following his retirement, Mr. Hunt served as senior trustee of the Pittsburgh-based Roy A. Hunt Foundation, named for his father and established in 1966. He was also a senior director of The Elmhurst Group, a Downtown-based developer that controls a real estate portfolio of 1.7 million square feet, including the Ramada Plaza Suites, Downtown.

Mr. Hunt was active in many civic, educational, wildlife and conservation groups. He was an emeritus life trustee of Carnegie Mellon University, which has long benefited from the Hunt family's generosity.

Besides his son, who resides in Shadyside, he is survived by two other sons, Daniel Kilner Hunt of Ketchum, Idaho, and Dr. Christopher Miller Hunt of Cape Elizabeth, Maine; a daughter, Rachel Hunt Knowles of Ligonier; a brother, Richard M. Hunt of Cambridge, Mass.; and 12 grandchildren.

Friends may call today from 7 to 9 p.m. and tomorrow from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. at H. Samson Funeral Home, 537 N. Neville St., Oakland.

Funeral services will be held on Thursday at 11 a.m. in the Church of the Ascension, Ellsworth Avenue and North Neville Street, Oakland.

Interment will be private at Allegheny Cemetery, Lawrenceville.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation at Carnegie Mellon University, 5000 Forbes Ave., Pittsburgh 15213-3890.