Former K-9 officer, neighborhood handyman

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Daniel Konieczka Sr. didn’t get much sleep in the years he was raising eight children and serving as a K-9 officer in the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police.

His son, District Judge Daniel Konieczka Jr., said even when his father pulled long night shifts at work, he would come home to play with him and his siblings, sometimes joining his sons and their friends for a basketball game in the alley near their home in Morningside.

“Our house was sort of Grand Central Station for all the neighborhood kids,” the younger Mr. Konieczka said.

Phil Bucci has had a front-row seat to the Konieczka family home for the past 43 years, since, as he said, he “hit the lottery” and moved in next door.

“He was definitely a family man,” Mr. Bucci said of Mr. Konieczka. “If you’d want to have a picture book definition of who’s the perfect family man, it was him.”

The elder Mr. Konieczka died last Wednesday after suffering multiple cardiac arrests at the end of June. He was 84. One of 10 siblings, he was born in Pittsburgh on March 15, 1934, and grew up in Lawrenceville. He attended Washington Vocational High School before joining the Navy in 1953.

After four years of active duty and four years in the reserves, Mr. Konieczka joined the city police force. Like his decision to serve in the Navy, becoming a police officer was a natural choice, his son said.

“He wanted to be able to serve the community,” said the younger Mr. Konieczka, of Shaler. “It was a calling and a passion for him.”

Mr. Konieczka started out as a patrol officer but soon became a part of the K-9 unit, where he would eventually be put in charge of training. Duke, Mr. Konieczka’s canine partner, lived with the Konieczka family, along with several other pets.

According to the younger Mr. Konieczka, the family once had three German shepherds, two parakeets and a cat called Snowball, all at one time.

“Dad was a big fan of animals,” Mr. Konieczka said.

Mr. Bucci said he remembers Mr. Konieczka donning the thick pads that K-9 officers train in to put on a demonstration for the neighborhood kids.

And more than a few times, Mr. Bucci recalled, his neighbor, an expert handyman, came to his rescue while he was doing repairs on his home.

Mr. Konieczka was a “staple” of the neighborhood, and Mr. Bucci said he feels lost without him.

“He was just one in a million,” he said.

In recent years, the younger Mr. Konieczka said his father’s favorite day of the week was Sunday, when he would cook his special meatballs and invite as many of his kids and 14 grandchildren as he could over for dinner.

Mr. Konieczka said his father, who always had a Type A personality, liked to keep busy in retirement. After suffering cardiac arrest while on duty in 1987, the elder Mr. Konieczka had triple bypass surgery and left the force.

It was a hard time for the dedicated police officer, his son said, but he had two things that kept him going: His love for his family and golf. He also became involved in his community and could often be found helping with charity work for the Masons and for the Pin Club, an auxiliary group for Masons in law enforcement.

And, he kept his old habit of working on projects around his home. Luckily for the younger Mr. Konieczka, his father worked on projects at his children’s homes as well.

“All I have to do is look at one particular room or the shed that’s out in my backyard,” he said. “There’s always a little bit of a reminder of my dad in each one of our homes.”

Mr. Konieczka’s wife, Sheila, died in November 2015.

In addition to his son and grandchildren, Mr. Konieczka is survived by four daughters, Mary Panian of Horseheads, N.Y., Lisa Cerchiaro of Plum, Rose Konieczka of Carrick and Sheila Konieczka of Morningside; three other sons, Eric Konieczka of Moon, Jerry Konieczka of Westmoreland County, and Peter Konieczka of Verona; and a sister, Betty Ann Echnat of Sharpsburg.

The funeral was held Monday at St. Raphael Church in Morningside.