People always said they knew when West Mifflin resident Robert "Bud" Steiner was in the room. A man with a larger-than-life personality, he embraced life with an unbridled enthusiasm that always elevated those around him.

They also said that Mr. Steiner, 56, retired vice president of foreign exchange marketing at Mellon Bank, had a generous heart, not only donating to many charities but continually welcoming new members into his ever-growing family of friends.

On Thursday, he collapsed on the Westwood public golf course, a club that he helped transform from the Duquesne Country Club, and died at UPMC Braddock of congestive heart failure.

"He didn't have a life -- he lived a life," said Mellon senior vice president Kevin Lawrie.

Mr. Steiner was born in Shadyside and graduated from Duquesne University with a degree in business administration. He joined Mellon Bank more than 25 years ago when foreign exchange trading was in its infancy, using a wide range of skills -- selling, trading, derivative products and financial engineering instruments -- in growing with the bank.

"At any given time, there is a television with CNBC, computer screens, broker boxes, a direct microphone to London and Boston and 20 people on the desk with Type A personalities," said Phyllis Berger, a bank vice president and friend. "Bob was the nucleus that held it all together. When things got too intense, we could count on him to say something totally off the wall."

"This industry tends to be a division of labor," said Lawrie. "Bob was extremely quantitative without being arrogant -- he was like a blue-collar guy in a high-tech industry."

When Mr. Steiner retired last year, his co-workers gave him a party at The Carlton restaurant, where they often relaxed after work. There, they presented him with a caricature, which was placed on the wall.

"We've missed him since he retired and now we'll miss him more," said Mellon vice president Bill Bertha.

Berger added, "Now every time we stop at the Carlton, we can look up and see his picture."

Lawrie said he will still feel he's missing a part of the family, noting that when he and his family moved to Pittsburgh 13 years ago, Mr. Steiner "took us in right away."

Friend Tom Laban, a teacher in the Upper St. Clair School District, noted that Mr. Steiner had a wide range of interests. He was active in basketball as well as golf and loved to play oldies records while serving as a disc jockey at special events.

"He also probably had more used Cadillacs than the Mafia," said Laban, "although he always said that he bought previously owned cars, not used cars."

Laban said Mr. Steiner loved nothing more than a party, surrounded by family and friends, where he could often be found at the grill. And he was never prouder than when he walked down the aisle with his wife, Jane, at the April wedding of his son, Robert, of Churchill, and Gina and later danced with hundreds of guests at Heinz Field.

Life always seemed to revolve around celebrations at the Steiner household, where Mr. Steiner occasionally said, "When it's my time to go, have a drink, have a cigar, have a party."

Mr. Steiner also is survived by his mother, Catherine, of Shadyside; brothers Ted of Cheswick, Fred of Oxford, Mass., and Daniel of Marietta, Ga.; and sister Barbara Kuntz of Waukesha, Wis.

Viewing will be at Maloy-Schleifer Funeral Home in Duquesne from noon to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. tomorrow. A Mass with military honors will be celebrated in Holy Trinity Cemetery at 1 p.m. Monday.

Memorial contributions can be made to the American Heart Association.