Lacey Moses' passion for working with numbers both delighted and tormented people during his 40 years as controller for Arnold.

Those who were delighted were primarily the city council members who served with Mr. Moses and relied on him to manage the city's finances and balance budgets.

Those who were often tormented by Mr. Moses' ability were those who negotiated contracts with him or whose bills he challenged.

Elias E. “Lacey” Moses of Arnold died Friday, Jan. 15, 2016, at the age of 91.

Ron Hopkins, a former police chief who later served on council, agreed that Mr. Moses was a bulldog when negotiating police contracts.

“You would go in there and talk percentages, and he would want to talk about pennies,” Hopkins said. “You had to fight him tooth and nail the whole way.”

John Campbell, who served on council for 22 years and as mayor for eight more, agreed.

“Lacey, to me, was probably one of the smartest guys I ever met in my life when it came to finances,” Campbell said.

Mr. Moses was shrewd, he said. For example, if the police wanted a 2 percent raise, Mr. Moses would agree.

“You would think he was talking about giving 2 percent each year and he would say ‘Check out the figure, is that right?,' ” Campbell said. “You would say ‘Yeah, that's 2 percent,' but he was talking about 2 percent (over) the whole contract.”

His daughter, Pam Moses of Arnold, saw her father in action for more than 25 years while she worked in the city clerk's office.

“He enjoyed that,” she said. “He enjoyed helping the city.”

She said he held a tight grasp on the city's purse strings. If he found an expense to be questionable, “He'd say, ‘I'm not signing the check, and that's the end of it,' ” she recalled.

In particular, she remembered his battles with the New Kensington Sanitary Authority over billing the city for sewage treatment.

“Every year, they would sue the city for not paying something, and they would lose,” Moses said.

“They hated him because of that,” Campbell said.

Moses said her father got the nickname “Lacey” because he was tall and thin like a shoelace.

She said if there was one word she would use to describe him it would be “spectacular.”

“My dad was probably most giving person — and not just because he's my dad — to his friends, his family,” she said. She said he bought cars and even houses for his children and grandchildren, whom he loved.

“When you would ask him why he did that, his famous quote was ‘Because I can't see you smile from the grave,' ” she said.

Mr. Moses is survived by his wife of 71 years, Julia Moses of Arnold; son Todd Moses of New Kensington, daughter Pam Moses of Arnold and son Matthew Moses at home; and four grandsons and four great-grandchildren.

Friends will be received from noon to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m. Monday in Giunta-Bertucci Funeral Home Inc., 1509 5th Ave., Arnold, A funeral service will be held 11 a.m. Tuesday in the funeral home, with the Rev. Harold Mele presiding. Burial will be in Greenwood Memorial Park, Lower Burrell. The Vandergrift Veteran Honor Guard will hold military honors at the cemetery.

Tom Yerace is a staff writer for the Tribune-Review. Reach him at 724-226-4675 or tyerace@tribweb.com.

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