One night during Robert Henzler's tenure as the top-ranking officer at the South Side police station, an armored car flipped over and $76,000 in cash spilled into the streets.

A group of kids tried to run off with the money, but police recovered it all and brought it in plastic bundles to the station. Mr. Henzler then waited there late into the evening, until officials from the security company came and counted every dollar.

"He was old school," said former Fraternal Order of Police President James Malloy, who was working as a detective under Mr. Henzler at the time of the incident, in the early 1980s. "He was dedicated to the city and to the police department. He stressed the rules and regulations."

Mr. Henzler, who spent 32 years with the Pittsburgh Police Bureau and retired at the rank of commander in 1988, died from chronic heart disease Saturday at the Wexford House Nursing Center. He was 86.

His wife, Helen, had died at the same nursing home Nov. 4.

Throughout his career, Mr. Henzler maintained a high standard for himself and the rank-and-file officers under his command.

"When individual police officers are not courteous to everyone and do not conduct themselves in a professional and gentlemanly manner, both on and off duty, they add some tarnish to every police officer's image," he was quoted as saying in a newspaper article from several decades ago, according to his son, David Henzler of Mount Clare, W.Va.

"My dad was about people," his son said. "He just cared about the person. He said, 'Treat an individual as an individual.'"

One of five siblings, Mr. Henzler grew up on Pittsburgh's North Side.

He attended St. Boniface School and Connelly Vocational High School. From age 10, he served as an altar boy at St. Boniface Church.

At 19, he met his future wife, 15-year-old Helen, during a dance at the church. She would write him a letter every day when he left Pittsburgh to serve with the U.S. Coast Guard in Alaska during World War II.

The pair married when Mr. Henzler returned, and they stayed together for 62 years and had six children.

Mr. Henzler worked as a street car operator before becoming a city police officer in 1956, fulfilling a lifelong dream.

He had several brushes with danger in his early years on the job, including a foot chase involving three armed men who tried to rob a North Side shop. When he caught up to the men, one turned around and pointed a loaded revolver. Mr. Henzler knocked the gun from his hand and threw the man to the ground, according to a short autobiography that he wrote last year for his grandchildren.

In the 1960s, Mr. Henzler rose to the rank of lieutenant and then inspector. He oversaw the police "youth squad," which tried to keep troubled young people away from crime.

Mr. Henzler would visit parents and community groups to promote the squad's work.

"He didn't like to see these kids getting locked up and doing hard time," David Henzler said. "He wanted a better way for them."

Throughout the 1970s and '80s, Mr. Henzler served as a top commander at several city police stations. When he reached the South Side station, it had more than 100 officers, Mr. Malloy said.

"He would try every day to get out into the community and walk around and talk to different people," Mr. Malloy said.

Chief Nate Harper said his first posting came under Mr. Henzler's command at the Squirrel Hill station, and he found his boss to be a "reserved and quiet man" who was "fair in his administration of duty," according to Diane Richard, a police spokeswoman.

Mr. Henzler was required to retire in 1988, when he reached the age of 65. During his retirement, he traveled frequently to see his children and their families, scattered throughout the region and the country.

In addition to his son, he is survived by a daughter, Catherine Weber, of Newark, Del.; and four other sons, Robert M. Henzler of McCandless; Mark Henzler, of Boise, Idaho; Gregory Henzler, of East Amherst, N.Y.; and Jeffrey Henzler, of Moon; a brother, Milton Henzler, of Ross; and a sister, Betty Hezlep, of the North Side; and 14 grandchildren.

Visitation is from 6 to 9 p.m. today at the Lawrence T. Miller Funeral Home, 460 Lincoln Ave., Bellevue.

A Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. tomorrow in the Church of Assumption; 45 N. Sprague Ave., Bellevue. Burial will follow in North Side Catholic Cemetery.

Memorial contributions can be made to the American Heart Association.

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