Tomasina Keremes started designing wedding gowns in the small back-room business that was her mother's bridal shop, but she pushed for more. There was no way the shop could survive doing business away from a main thoroughfare, she prodded.

"We've got to be on the street," was her cry, according to her husband, Frank Harris. "Her mother asked her, 'How are we going to pay the rent?' And Tomasina told her, 'We'll pay the rent because we're on the street.' "

The "street" was Washington Road in Mt. Lebanon and that move 20 years ago signaled the beginning of the Tomasina line of wedding gowns, fit and embroidered for celebrities and attaining national recognition in the world of bridal fashion.

Ms. Keremes, a determined and resilient art major who graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in the early '80s, pioneered fashion trends for brides while steering the former back-room business into the national spotlight.

Ms. Keremes, 44, died of breast cancer Friday afternoon, surrounded by family at her Mt. Lebanon home.

"I purchased one of her lines one season and I did more bridal business ... than Saks and all the other department stores that season," said Renee Strauss, owner of the bridal boutique Renee Strauss For the Bride in Beverly Hills, Calif. "She was a designer that you could go to season after season. She will be missed. This is a very big gouge to the industry -- she was incredible."

Ms. Keremes continued to work after her initial diagnosis with the disease in April 2003. She continued to invent designs and direct work at her shop at 615 Washington Road.

"She built a business out of nothing, just some dreams and hard work," said her sister Stephanie Keremes of the North Side.

The early days were full of struggles. There were days with more than $200,000 worth of orders and not enough fabric, but those were days that bore insight into Ms. Keremes' command of entrepreneurship.

"Usually someone is good in art and design and they are not good in business or maybe you'll get someone who is good in business but not good in art and design," said John Keremes, of Los Angeles, her brother. "Tomasina was both. She was so incredible in that respect that she could do it all."

Ms. Keremes, with her sister Stephanie and her mother, Demetria Hyland, worked seven days a week and 14-hour days, investing every dollar back into the shop in those early days. And after the store had established a loyal clientele in Pittsburgh, Ms. Keremes decided it was time for a risk.

With $15,000, the store's entire savings, she gambled to broaden its reach with a national ad in Brides magazine. Everyone thought she was crazy. Selling off years of sewing, seaming and adjustments for an advertisement just didn't seem rational.

When the ad finally appeared in 1992, next to the name Tomasina and a photograph of a beautiful model in an elegant dress, there was one slight problem -- no contact information. The magazine had failed to print telephone numbers, location or even what the store sold. Yet the advertisement, with its elegance and the specialized woven silk bodice wrapped around the model, cried out for attention.

"People began asking, 'Who is Tomasina? Who is this Tomasina person?' " said Harris. "From that one ad we developed into a company in more than 100 stores around the country."

Soon every high-class retailer wanted the Tomasina name. Macy's, Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue and boutiques clamored for her designs.

Now, the store's legacy will be carried on by the people who believed in Tomasina the most -- her family. Stephanie will take the helm and her 22-year-old daughter will hopefully follow in her aunt's footsteps.

In addition to her husband, mother, sister and brother, Ms. Keremes is survived by two sons, Maximus and Samuel, of Mt. Lebanon; her father, James Keremes, of Dormont; brothers Frank of Dormont and Nicklas; and another sister, Esther of Phoenix.

The funeral will be at 11 a.m. today at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Church, 123 Gilkeson Road, Mt. Lebanon, with visitation at the church one hour earlier. Arrangements are by William Slater II Funeral Service, Scott.

Donations can be made to the PLEA School, a licensed psychiatric hospitalization program for children ages 3 to 14, at 733 South Ave., Wilkinsburg.