'My father, like my grandfather, were the old-school funeral directors,' said E.J. Pfeifer Jr.'s son, Thomas, recalling the personal commitment the elder Pfeifers adhered to in operating their funeral home on a 24-hour basis.
Edgar J. Pfeifer Jr. died at his Millvale home from complications of respiratory failure on Wednesday, Aug. 1, 2001. He was 87.
Along with his brother, Raymond, Pfeifer operated the former E.J. Pfeifer Funeral Home on Grant Avenue for more than 50 years.
'No matter where we went,' Thomas Pfeifer said, 'someone stayed behind to answer the telephone. Dad felt that to run a successful funeral home, you had to be available any time a call came from a family. He never agreed to installing an answering machine or to having an answering service.'
Born and raised in Millvale, Mr. Pfeifer was one of three children in the family of Edward John and Katherine Pfeifer. Edward John Pfeifer established his livery and funeral business on Grant Avenue around the turn of the century.
As a youngster attending Millvale High School, Mr. Pfeifer would help out at the funeral home after school and during summer recess. In 1933, following graduation from high school, he attended the University of Pittsburgh, prior to enrolling at the American Academy of Embalming and Mortuary Research of New York.
In 1942, Mr. Pfeifer enlisted in the Navy. Because of his background, he was assigned to a medical unit attached to a submarine task force in Australia.
In 1944, Mr. Pfeifer married fellow Millvale native Anna Mae Bauer. Following his discharge from the Navy, the Pfeifers set up house on the second floor of the funeral home where the young bridegroom had been raised.
Edward J. Pfeifer III, a resident of Mars, Butler County, recalled what it was like growing up with a father who was a hands-on businessman and tolerated little nonsense from his children.
'We all helped after school and on weekends. We carried and set up chairs and flowers and helped clean up after a funeral. And we had to be very quiet when there was a visitation.
'We were just kids, and often we made noise. We knew when we were a little too loud, we could hear Dad's footsteps as he came up the stairs.'
His children also recalled that attendance at Christ Lutheran Church in Millvale was a must. 'No matter what the weather, we were up on Sunday and headed for church and Sunday school,' said Edward J. Pfeifer III.
Funeral director Norman Heard recalled Mr. Pfeifer's dedication to the industry. 'I can remember how incensed Ed was when Jessica Mitford's book, 'The High Cost of Dying,' was published and when cremation was being touted as a way to save on the cost of a funeral.
'At the time, I was an officer with the Pennsylvania State Funeral Directors Association. E.J. supported me when I was trying to discredit the merits of Mitford's book and the information being circulated about the financial merits of cremation.'
The Pfeifer family's dedication to the Millvale Volunteer Fire Department was legendary. Mr. Pfeifer and his brother, Raymond, along with Mr. Pfeifer's two sons, were all members of the fire department.
Joseph Kosatka, a resident of Mt. Troy and a member of the Mt. Troy Volunteer Fire Department, recalled Mr. Pfeifer's commitment to the Millvale Fire Department. 'Ed never missed a fire. In his younger days he was right there with us when both our fire companies answered a call.'
Mr. Pfeifer was also a joiner, said his family, a man who believed in being active in organizations that represented his profession, his church, community and fraternal orders. Among his numerous memberships, Mr. Pfeifer belonged to the Allegheny County, Pennsylvania and National Funeral Directors associations.
He was also a member of the Masons, the Millvale Kiwanis and Millvale Luncheon Club, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Loyal Order of Moose, Etna Elks and the Millvale Sportsmans Club.
Mr. Pfeifer is survived by his wife, Anna Mae Bauer Pfeifer; daughters, Mary Kay Miller of Altoona, Blair County, and Sandra Lee Seidl of Shaler Township; sons, Edward J. Pfeifer III of Mars and Thomas C. Pfeifer of Shaler; 11 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. He was also the brother of Raymond Pfeifer of Millvale and the late Evelyn Pfeifer.
Funeral services will be private. Arrangements by the Jack W. Amick Funeral Home Inc., 512 Grant Ave., Millvale. The family requests memorial donations be made to a charity of choice.
