Longtime Shaler police officer and township commissioner
In Shaler, there’s a park named for Edward G. Duss.
He earned the honor as a World War II veteran who devoted six decades of his life to the North Hills community where he grew up and where he died in his sleep at age 92 on Monday.
“He couldn’t stand not having purpose and he loved Shaler Township,” said his daughter Darlene Bottegal, of Shaler. “He liked helping people and doing things for his community.”
For 36 years, Mr. Duss served as a member of the township’s police department, followed by another 24 years as a township commissioner before he retired in 2015.
Growing up, he was a star basketball player for Shaler Area High School, where Mr. Duss scored 50 points in a game in 1944.
“He actually held the record for the most points scored in one game until it was broken in the 1990s,”
Mrs. Bottegal said.
In early 1945, Mr. Duss graduated from high school and, eager to join the war effort, enlisted in the Navy Construction Battalions — better known as the “Seabees.”
“He was only 17 so he had to have his parents’ signatures,” his daughter said.
He was stationed in the Philippines, where he and other crew members constructed landing strips for planes.
After the war, Mr. Duss became reacquainted with his high school sweetheart, Jeanne C. Huber. The two wed in May 1948.
In 1955, he began working as a patrolman in Shaler, and was promoted to lieutenant in 1966.
It was a job that suited him.
“Eddie was a gentleman,” said township Manager Tim Rogers. “He was always very conscientious and he expected officers to stay with the family if they were delivering bad news. Ed always did that.”
“He really loved the job. He would always go that extra mile and help people,” his daughter said. “It was a different era then.”
Her father didn’t bring his work home with him, she said.
“He didn’t talk much about what went on at work,” his daughter said. “My mother was always worried, but she didn’t show it. I know she had a little lump in her throat every time he went out.”
Later in life, when his grandson followed him into a career in law enforcement, Mr. Duss was honored to present him with a certificate of graduation from the Allegheny County Police Academy.
Always humble, Mr. Duss asked for no fanfare when he retired from the force in 1991, his daughter said.
But that request backfired in a spectacular way when Mr. Rogers arranged for a 16-piece brass band to greet him on his last day of work.
“We all knew it was coming so we went, and they had a high school band playing for him when he pulled in for his last shift,” his daughter recalled. “It brought tears to his eyes. He said ‘No fuss,’ but they did it anyway.”
Mr. Duss had no sooner hung up his badge and gun than he announced his intention to run for a seat as a commissioner.
“He didn’t like not having something to do,” his daughter said. “And he was not happy with retirement so he thought this would be a good way to still stay in contact with residents and help them.”
A Democrat representing Shaler’s First Ward, Mr. Duss never lost an election from 1991 to 2015.
“He loved working for the public,” his daughter said. “He always talked to people about their issues and he never ignored them. They called the house at all hours. He really prided himself in that he tried to help everybody with every problem.”
“He was fierce advocate for the residents of his ward,” Mr. Rogers said. “He always followed up on things.”
The decision to dedicate a park in the Cherry City section of Shaler to Mr. Duss in 2015 was a no-brainer, Mr. Rogers said.
“His nickname was the ‘Mayor of Cherry City,’ because he lived there and everyone knew him,” Mr. Rogers said. “We wanted to recognize him for his years of service.”
In recent years, Mr. Duss doted on his family and devoted himself to his lawn, where he could spend hours on his riding mower. When he was done with his own yard, Mr. Duss would often mow those of his neighbors and children.
As a member of the Greatest Generation, respect for others was important to Mr. Duss, Mr. Rogers said. Though it may at times be lacking in the national political discourse, it wasn’t in his hometown.
“Ed was never political in nature and he wanted to involve everybody in a decision,” he said. “In 28 years, I’ve never seen a commission vote along party lines because of guys like Ed.”
Along with his wife and daughter, Mr. Duss is survived by his son James, of Shaler, three grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
A funeral Mass was celebrated in St. Joseph Church in O’Hara on Saturday.