Eugene "Jeep" DePasquale, a colorful Oakland politician who served four terms in City Council and six years as president, died yesterday. He was 85.

Mr. DePasquale retired in 1989, a near-legendary figure in Pittsburgh politics primarily because of his blunt outspokenness.

He was a devoted practitioner of old-school politics, wherein deals were cut and favors traded in back rooms, and jobs were awarded through the patronage system.

The desk in his City-County Building office always was piled high with blue and white message slips from constituents who called to ask his help with potholes, garbage pickup or other city services.

Mr. DePasquale quit council as the city switched to a new district elections system that was intended to shift the emphasis to progressive, grass-roots politics. He acknowledged at the time that he was unlikely to hold his seat in the new political environment.

Rarely given to diplomacy, Mr. DePasquale was known for his often brutal commentary about issues and people.

He once referred to members of a women's organization as "filthy-mouthed pigs," called college students "punks" and "wild animals," and on several occasions used the term "queers" to describe gay and lesbian citizens.

"I don't give a good damn what your rag thinks of me personally," Mr. DePasquale said in a letter to the editor of The Pittsburgh Press in 1981, one of several vitriolic messages he sent to the city's newspapers during his career.

"He let you guys [the news media] get under his skin, and he was portrayed as some sort of reactionary, but there was no one who was more liberal-leaning," said his son James, a Pittsburgh attorney.

"He always voted pro-union. No politician, no white politician, had more support in the black community. The voters knew what he was -- a human being with a heart who always stood up for the little guy."

Former Mayor Sophie Masloff, who served with Mr. DePasquale on council, said he was a "champion of the underdog."

"Some of the time he overdid it because he was so outspoken all the time," Mrs. Masloff said. "But I believe that he did that because these were his convictions."

"He was a rough guy, but he had a heart of gold," Mrs. Masloff said. "He was a fighter, and when he believed in something, he would fight it to the last drop."

The son of an Italian immigrant, Mr. DePasquale was raised in the Panther Hollow section of Oakland during the Depression and worked as a batboy at Forbes Field in the 1930s. Along the way, he was nicknamed "Jeep" after a character in the old "Popeye" cartoons.

His son said he enlisted in the Marines shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor and saw heavy combat in the battles of Guam and Iwo Jima during World War II.

Mr. DePasquale became a Forbes Field usher, ticket seller and, in 1958, president of the ushers' union. He resigned the union post in 1982, when the city assumed control of Three Rivers Stadium, to avoid a potential conflict between his city and union duties.

His political career was launched in 1971, when he left his $10,000-a-year job as a city paving foreman after winning a council seat.

He was re-elected in 1975 and 1979, "retired" briefly in 1983 after an unsuccessful campaign for city controller, and regained his seat two years later.

He was council president from 1977 to 1983.

During his presidency, he clashed repeatedly with Councilwoman Michelle Madoff, and their feuding became grist for front-page news stories and a lawsuit.

Ms. Madoff sued Mr. DePasquale for slander in 1985 after he questioned her femininity in a TV interview. Mr. DePasquale paid $2,500 to settle the case.

"I wasn't exactly his favorite person on council because I wasn't part of the 'rat pack,' so to speak," Ms. Madoff, who now resides in Surprise, Ariz., said last night.

But she said she reconciled with Mr. DePasquale after both had left council. She offered him a ride after spotting him on a street corner and he "apologized about all the accusations and the things he had said about me," Ms. Madoff said.

"I really and truly think he was a victim of the environment he associated himself with -- the old-time political system," Ms. Madoff said. "Underneath it all, he was a good fellow, a good soul."

Asked once to cite his chief accomplishment in council, Mr. DePasquale mentioned his support of the David L. Lawrence Convention Center at a time when the project appeared doomed.

James DePasquale said his father once gave him this advice: "Always keep your word and never screw a friend."

In addition to his council duties, Mr. DePasquale served as chairman of the Allegheny County Sanitary Authority board for nearly a decade.

A 1987 report alleged widespread abuse at Alcosan, including excessive travel, wasteful financial practices, patronage and nepotism, and singled out Mr. DePasquale as the biggest globe-trotter, with $32,414 in travel over a five-year span.

He was stripped of the board chairmanship the following January and resigned shortly thereafter, saying he had not received sufficient credit for a tenure that saw no rate increases.

Friends will be received from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at John A. Freyvogel Funeral Home, 4900 Centre Ave., Shadyside.

A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Monday at St. Paul Cathedral, Oakland.