CYRIL H. WECHT

CYRIL H. WECHT, M.D., J.D of Pittsburgh, PA, died May 13, 2024 at the age of 93. Dr. Wecht’ s career began as he combined his training in medicine and law and his then-rare expertise in the nascent field of forensic pathology. He served several terms as Allegheny County Coroner, where he modernized the office and made it into an international model, attracting trainees from all over the world. He later served as Allegheny County’s first Chief Medical Examiner. His professional affiliations, too numerous to list, included serving as president of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences. Cyril founded the Pittsburgh Institute of Legal Medicine and the Cyril H. Wecht Institute of Forensic Science and Law at Duquesne University, where he taught for some sixty years. He personally conducted tens of thousands of autopsies, consulted and testified in countless criminal and civil cases, spoke around the world to professional, lay, and student groups, held several faculty appointments, authored dozens of books and hundreds of scholarly articles, and collaborated on numerous film and television projects.