Former Westmoreland County Coroner Leo M. Bacha, patriarch and president of Leo M. Bacha Funeral Home in Greensburg, died of complications from lung cancer Monday at Excela Health Westmoreland Hospital in Greensburg. He was 70.

Mr. Bacha, who was elected to six four-year terms as county coroner, retired in 2001. He was succeeded in the post by his son, Kenneth A. Bacha, 45, of Greensburg, who, like his father, grandfathers, brother and sister, is a funeral director.

"My dad's parents were two funeral director families that married," Mr. Bacha said. The extended family has had more than two dozen licensed funeral directors working in Westmoreland County.

The younger Bachas were raised in the rooms above the funeral home.

"It's how we grew up, on the second floor, the third floor above the funeral home," Mr. Bacha said. "It was not uncommon at Christmas dinner, Saturdays, Sundays, holidays, to be interrupted because someone died; we were a 24/7 operation.

"As a kid growing up, when I was little, I was folding up chairs after the funeral, cleaning ashtrays, carrying flowers to the cemetery -- I mean you name it," he said of following in his father's footsteps.

All his life, Mr. Bacha said, his father showed his children the important role funeral home directors play in a community and how much people appreciated what they did.

It was only natural, he said, for his father to extend his work from the funeral home to the coroner's office.

"The two overlap, and it was a perfect match for him," he said. "And he loved it. After he retired, he said, 'I don't miss the courthouse. I miss the people in it.' "

One of those at the Westmoreland County Courthouse was Common Pleas Judge John E. Blahovec, who served as Mr. Bacha's solicitor when he took office in 1978.

The two men worked together on what proved to be Mr. Bacha's most memorable case, the tragic crash of a helicopter into the crowd attending a church festival in Derry Borough in 1978, killing eight people.

"It was just shocking," Judge Blahovec recalled. "Thank God nothing like that has ever happened again."

Later, Mr. Bacha, a lifelong Democrat who was always active in county politics, worked on the election of state Rep. Amos K. Hutchinson, D-Greensburg, and 20 years ago was instrumental in getting Mr. Blahovec elected as judge.

"If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be a judge," Judge Blahovec said. "When I was sworn in [last year], I asked him to read my commission for me. ... When he was introduced, there was a standing ovation from all the judges and everyone there in the packed courtroom. It was a great moment."

Mr. Bacha spent his retirement doting on his four grandchildren, doing administrative work for the Greensburg Volunteer Fire Department and the Church of St. Paul, and taking fishing trips with longtime friends.

"He loved his place in the mountains [in Stahlstown]," his son said. "I think he spent Fridays and Saturdays there breaking things, and Sundays fixing them, just to keep himself occupied."

In addition to his son, survivors include his wife, Barbara, of Greensburg; another son, John M. Bacha of Unity; a daughter, Kathleen A. Bacha of Southwest Greensburg; a brother, Michael W. Bacha of Harrison ; and two sisters, Mary Welsh of Monroeville and Michelene Bacha Heller of Natrona.

Visitation will be today from 7 to 9 p.m. and tomorrow from 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 p.m. at the Leo M. Bacha Funeral Home, 516 Stanton at Green streets, Greensburg. A Mass will be celebrated at the Church of St. Paul at 9:30 a.m. Friday.

Donations may be made to the church, 820 Carbon Road, Greensburg 15601, or the Greensburg Volunteer Fire Department, P.O. Box 924, Greensburg 15601.