Local attorney was a longtime community leader in McKees Rocks
NICHOLAS ‘NICK’ RADOYCIS JR. | Dec. 17, 1947 – March 5, 2023
“It’s not just a hole in our hearts, it’s like losing your quarterback, your leader — if you know what I mean. He was iconic. I’m the council president, but he could easily have been president. He trusted me and taught me so much.”
Archie Brinza, McKees Rocks council President
There isn’t a bridge, road or playground named after Nicholas “Nick” Radoycis in McKees Rocks, but there probably should be.
That’s because Mr. Radoycis did much for his lifelong community as an assistant district attorney, longtime volunteer fire chief and councilman.
But, more than anything, he was a “Bottoms” boy at heart, friends and relatives said.
“He was a Bottoms boy forever,” said his friend Sandy Saban, using the nickname of the McKees Rocks community. “He was such an important person in McKees Rocks — he had done so much and he still had so much to do.”
“It’s not just a hole in our hearts, it’s like losing your quarterback, your leader — if you know what I mean,” said McKees Rocks council President Archie Brinza. “He was iconic. He was a credit to McKees Rocks. I’m the council president, but he could easily have been president. He trusted me and taught me so much.”
Mr. Radoycis, 75, died March 5 after a stroke.
A graduate of Gannon University in Erie and the Duquesne University School of Law, Mr. Radoycis began working as a public defender for Allegheny County in 1979, helping defendants who couldn’t afford private lawyers.
A crusader for his clients, Mr. Radoycis wasn’t afraid to call out wrongdoing when he saw it, such as in 1983, when he was defending a Black man who was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in the death of a white woman.
During the trial, Mr. Radoycis accused prosecutors of “almost hysterical racism,” in what he felt was an unmerited request that the defendant should stand trial for a more serious murder charge.
He was also critical of media reports at the time.
“Every news article is about how lenient the system is,” Mr. Radoycis said in an October 1983 Post-Gazette story. “I think everybody senses that frustration, but when you’re talking about depriving someone of their freedom, and there is a doubt, shouldn’t the error be on the side of leniency?”
Despite — or perhaps because of — his reservations about racism in the justice system, Mr. Radoycis accepted a job at the district attorney’s office in 1985.
Just two years earlier, he joined the McKees Rocks Volunteer Fire Department, so it wasn’t unusual to see Mr. Radoycis fighting fires at night and criminals by day.
Although there might still be soot beneath his fingernails and behind his ears, Mr. Radoycis never neglected his day job.
“Even if he was out on a fire call all night, he’d be at court in the morning, ready to go,” said his nephew Mike Conti, of McKees Rocks. “He was determined to do everything right. He believed in the greater good.”
Retired deputy district attorney Janet Necessary served alongside Mr. Radoycis at the DA’s office, and knew him when he worked as a public defender.
“He was an excellent attorney who really fought for his clients,” she said. “He was a great storyteller and he could even make insurance fraud cases sound interesting. It was one of the things that made him a good attorney and a good prosecutor. He always knew how to capture the imagination of a jury and that was something he did naturally.”
As a leader in the office’s robbery prosecution unit, Mr. Radoycis, who retired in 2019, used his life experience to carefully select which cases to try, Ms. Necessary said.
Mr. Radoycis served as chief of the volunteer fire department for 28 years, retiring last year.
Credited with helping to keep the department financially stable, he also championed a junior firefighter program, recalled Edward Maritz Jr., of Oakdale.
“I met him in 1983. I was a junior firefighter and the volunteer department was just in its infancy at that time,” Mr. Maritz said. “He was a kind and nurturing person who saw the value in bringing in younger members.”
Mr. Radoycis brought along the junior firefighters, Mr. Maritz said, helping with training and instilling the importance of education in his young charges, many of whom stayed with the department for years.
When he was elected to council in 2020, after serving on the borough zoning board, Mr. Radoycis had the courage of his convictions, always willing to defend a dicey position or graciously concede defeat, Mr. Brinza recalled.
“He was never ashamed to admit a mistake. I’ve known him since I was a kid and I always looked up to him,” said Mr. Brinza, who had a lengthy — and very personal — conversation with Mr. Radoycis on the day he died.
“We rarely spoke about personal things, but we did on that day,” he said. “He wanted to write a will for me and he talked about the importance of a [do not resuscitate order]. Looking back, it’s just surreal. I called him to discuss council business, but we ended up talking about that. He used to say, ‘Every day is a lesson,’ and he was right.”
A student of history and lover of opera and symphonies — especially Beethoven — Mr. Radoycis could do everything from home improvements or planting rose bushes for the local historic society to hosting an impromptu picnic for friends on his backyard deck.
He was also a big proponent for organ donation, his nephew remembered, and donated several of his organs when he died.
“He was such a giving person and it was his final gift, so to speak,” he said. “He was a special person.”
He was predeceased by a sister, Mary Susan Conti, and brother, Thomas Radoycis.
His funeral was earlier this week.