Dan and Margaret Rooney settled on the North Side and reared eight children. Their son Art founded the Steelers and became the most famous, but the whole family became part of Pittsburgh's historic fabric in the 20th century.

2004 photo Margaret Laughlin

Those eight children are all gone now, leaving their legacy to a large extended family.

Margaret Rooney Laughlin was the last of the eight siblings. She died Saturday night at her home on the North Side of heart problems. She was 91.

"She was the last of the originals," her nephew, Jack McGinley, said yesterday. "They were such a wonderful, colorful family, and she's really the last of them."

Mrs. Laughlin's death leaves Steelers chairman Dan Rooney, son of Art Rooney Sr., as the eldest member of the clan. He is 72.

"She was a fine lady, very involved with the whole family," Dan Rooney said. "She was the person you would go to if you wanted information on anyone in the family. She was a little younger than my father and mother, but she was with them often."

Art Rooney Sr. died in 1988. The death of Marie Ellen Rooney McGinley in July 2003 had left Mrs. Laughlin as the last surviving member of the siblings.

The Laughlin, the McGinley and the Rooney families were always close and had nearby summer cottages in Ligonier. Mrs. Laughlin was one of the matriarchs.

"Everybody got close to my mother quite easily," Dan Laughlin said. "She really loved having all these nephews and nieces and children -- and great-nephews and great-nieces and grandchildren.

"Her only interest was in raising her kids and then the grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and then there's all the cousins."

Well, there was room for sports among her interests, too.

"She went to the football games when they started [in the 1930s]," Dan Laughlin said. "When I started going around age 6 or 7, we went to Forbes Field and we had box seats on the first base side. That goes clear back to when Jock Sutherland was coaching [in the '40s].

"She's seen it all."

To the good fortune of the extended family, Mrs. Laughlin passed along what she saw.

"The Rooneys are pretty good storytellers, so she had a whole bunch of stories," McGinley said. "She could give you family history, sports history and local political history.

"My hope is that some of us have the capacity to keep an oral history alive because it is so interesting."

Dan Laughlin and his brother, Art, live in Florida, but usually called their mother on Sundays. "We always talked about the [Steelers] game," Dan Laughlin said. "She was very excited about this season."

Mrs. Laughlin also followed the football team at Pitt, which just returned from a trip to the Fiesta Bowl.

"On Saturday night, she was up in bed, and she called down to my brother Jimmy, who's been taking care of her," Dan Laughlin said. "She said, 'What's the Pitt score?' And she said, 'Make me a sundae.' Those were the last things she said."

The Laughlins also owned the Shamrock Room, a tavern on the North Side.

In addition to sons Dan and Art of Florida and James of the North Side, Mrs. Laughlin is survived by a daughter, Peggy, of the North Side; eight grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.

A Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. in St. Peter Catholic Church, North Side, at 10 a.m. today. Arrangements were handled by T.B. Devlin Funeral Home, Ross.

Contributions can be made to the Pittsburgh Catholic Relief Fund for the Tsunami Victims, c/o the Diocese of Pittsburgh, 111 Blvd. of the Allies, Pittsburgh 15222.