No matter whether the name was Heinz or Caliguiri, or Smith or Jones, funeral director Frank Koren helped each family the same way, his son said.

“He was proud of what he did,” Michael Koren said. “He was a funeral director. He helped people. Every person, every family he worked with was really treated as best as he could provide. He believed in the dignity of the service.”

Frank A. Koren of Churchill died in his home Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2015. He was 101.

Mr. Koren began his career as a funeral director in 1940 in Sheboygan, Wis. In 1957, he arrived at the former H. Samson Funeral Home in Oakland, which Michael Koren said was a well-known funeral home in the area.

During the next 40 years, Mr. Koren would help families, including those of Pittsburgh Pirates third baseman Harold “Pie” Traynor, who died in 1972; Sen. John Heinz, who died in a helicopter crash in 1992; and Pittsburgh Mayor Richard Caliguiri, who died in 1988.

“There were no two ways,” Koren said. “There was only one way, and that was supreme professional capability. He always strove for perfection. He would tell us, ‘You can do anything that you want, but you have to be good at it.' ”

By 1977, Mr. Koren joined Patrick T. Lanigan Funeral Home in East Pittsburgh, and worked part time there up until his late 90s, said owner Patrick Lanigan.

When Mr. Koren was 96, he attended a daylong continuing education seminar at Pittsburgh Institute of Mortuary Science.

“That's how much he valued his license and valued his profession,” Lanigan said.

In the mid-1970s, Lanigan said, his brother, Michael, bought a business that sold supplies to funeral homes and made a sales visit to Mr. Koren at Samson.

“I met the nicest guy in the world,” Patrick Lanigan recalled his brother telling him afterward. “We talked for two hours, and he gave me the biggest order. He treated me like I was someone special. I will never, ever forget him for the way he treated me.”

Mr. Koren is survived by sons, Michael Koren of Braddock Hills, Philip Koren of Midlothian, Va., John Koren of Euless, Texas, Joseph Koren of Churchill, and Charles Koren of Ebensburg; daughter Louise Casey of Naperville, Ill.; 17 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his wife, Elizabeth K. Koren.

Family and friends will be received from 2 to 8 p.m. Sunday in Patrick T. Lanigan Funeral Home, 700 Linden Ave., East Pittsburgh. Mass of Christian Burial will be 10 a.m. Monday in St. John Fisher Church, Churchill. Burial will be in Homewood Cemetery.

Bill Vidonic is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 412-380-5621 or bvidonic@tribweb.com.

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