For many years, Jack Poloka worked 9 to 5 as an administrative manager for Equitable Gas. But it was what he did after his day job that really mattered.

Working tirelessly for more than half a century, Mr. Poloka was the driving force behind the preservation and celebration of Carpatho-Rusyn heritage in Pittsburgh.

He died unexpectedly on Tuesday of a heart attack. He was 71.

"He lived for the culture, the tradition and the religion," said his son, Dean, of Robinson. "It was everything to him."

The Carpatho-Rusyns are an Eastern Slavic ethnic group whose ancestors lived near the eastern Carpathian mountains.

Mr. Poloka was a national trustee of the Carpatho-Rusyn Society. With his son, Dean, he hosted a weekly ethnic radio program on WPIT 730. He led heritage tours back to Eastern Europe.

He broadened his love of his own culture into an appreciation of all folk cultures. A longtime board member of the Pittsburgh Folk Festival, Mr. Poloka was serving as director of this year's festival, to be held May 14-16 at the Monroeville Convention Center.

The job, which included coordinating 3,300 volunteers, was practically a full-time endeavor, said Karen Hall, president of the festival's board.

"He never sat still," she said. "There are certain people who are community leaders, and he was that. There's always got to be somebody that says, 'OK, I'll do it,' and that was Jack."

Ms. Hall called Mr. Poloka an "uber-Rusyn." Others knew him as "Mr. Slavjane" after the folk ensemble that he founded.

Starting in 1956, he taught Carpatho-Rusyn dancing to thousands of children, including his own children and all of his grandchildren old enough to participate.

As director of the Slavjane Folk Ensemble, Mr. Poloka was involved with every facet of the group, from making the posters to selling the tickets to cooking the food for the group's Christmas banquet, said Sandy Morrow, president of the parents' organization, who talked to him nearly every day.

Mr. Poloka demanded a lot of the children -- about 50 or 60 every year, said Ms. Morrow. In turn, they saw him as a grandfatherly figure.

"He was very driven, very loving and sweet," she said. "Behind that tough, gruff exterior he had a heart of gold."

Mr. Poloka's passion for his culture was ingrained in him by his parents, and ingrained in them by their parents when they immigrated to the U.S., said his son.

Dean Poloka laughs about meeting a relative, a second cousin of his father's, in Eastern Europe in 2005 who was also head of various cultural organizations in his hometown.

"It has to be genetic," he said. "Some people lost their identity whether it be religious or ethnic. We never did and we never will."

In addition to his son, he is survived by his wife, Teresa; another son, Mark, of Orlando, Fla.; daughters Beth Liberatore, of Hopewell, and Sue Anne Kosol, of Moon; and six grandchildren.

The family will receive visitors today from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m. at Valerian F. Szal Funeral Home in McKees Rocks. The funeral will be 9:45 a.m. Saturday at the Holy Ghost Byzantine Catholic Church in McKees Rocks.

The Jack Poloka Memorial Fund has been established at the Carpatho-Rusyn Society. Donations will benefit the radio program.

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