A big-hearted man with a blue-collar pedigree, Richard Hawrylak was determined to give his children the opportunities for which he struggled. He attended night classes to work his way up from the mail room at Consol Energy Inc., and then, while still employed full time, he started his own construction business.

In the hours when he wasn't working, Mr. Hawrylak left little time for himself, friends and family said.

"He would drop anything he was doing to help someone else," said his son, Jarrett Hawrylak.

Richard Hawrylak, of Whitehall, died Sunday. He suffered a heart attack while shoveling snow for a neighbor. He was 54.

Known for his frugality and his zeal for a deal -- his family teased him because Costco cashiers addressed him by name -- Richard Hawrylak nonetheless ceaselessly gave to others. He bought groceries to aid his aging mother and toys to surprise his three children. He donated money each Christmas to a local homeless woman he read about in the Post-Gazette.

"If there were 40 hours in a day, he would have found a way to fill them up with helping other people," said his brother, John Hawrylak, of Wexford.

"He was the only person I knew that would never say no to anybody," said Zenon Szestak, a longtime friend.

Born in 1955, Richard Hawrylak graduated from South Side High School in 1973.

When he was young, he was a class clown, loved cars, and occasionally drag-raced, said his son.

He started working at Consol Energy, a coal and natural gas company, in the late 1970s. He attended night classes at Kaplan Career Institute's ICM campus to obtain a certificate in data processing, soon joining his company's information technology department. Later he attended community college and Robert Morris University.

"Oh my heart, he was very outgoing and a go-getter," said Nancy Hamilton, his sister-in-law. "Rich never stopped."

Richard Hawrylak married his wife, Gloria Hawrylak, in 1984, and he created Harlak Interiors, named for the correct pronunciation of his oft-butchered surname, in 1985.

It was a one-man construction business, promoted by word-of-mouth.

"He was a provider," said Jarrett Hawrylak. "He really made an effort to make sure that things were always different for us."

In recent years, said Jarrett Hawrylak, his father had been doting on his "little house on a big hill," a property he owned in Peters.

"He singlehandedly remodeled the entire thing," he said. "It was where he always wanted to move when he retired."

Mr. Szestak said it was fitting that his friend died while helping a neighbor.

He remembered that at funerals, Mr. Hawrylak was the man whom others would surround, as he told stories and culled laughs.

In addition to his son, brother and wife, Mr. Hawrylak is survived by another son, Dillon Hawrylak, and a daughter, Jhana Hawrylak, both of Whitehall; his mother, Katherine Hawrylak, of the South Side; a sister, Kathy Meinert, of Wexford; and another brother, Michael Hawrylak, of Brentwood.

A funeral prayer will be held today at 9:15 a.m. at St. Gabriel of the Sorrowful Virgin Church, 5200 Greenridge Drive, Whitehall, followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at 10 a.m.

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