Renowned forensic pathologist Dr. Cyril Wecht died “peacefully” on Monday at the age of 93, Pennsylvania officials said.
The former Allegheny County coroner is famous for analyzing the deaths of President John F. Kennedy, Elvis Presley, JonBenet Ramsey, and Anna Nicole Smith. He previously reviewed the cases of Gabby Pettit and Ellen Greenberg on FOX News Digital.
“He was the first private citizen allowed to examine evidence of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination at the National Archives, and the first to discover that the president’s brain and related materials were missing. ” reads the administration’s obituary. of the State of Pennsylvania Courts. “He was America’s most important critic of the Warren Commission’s infamous single-bullet doctrine. He personally performed tens of thousands of autopsies and was consulted on countless criminal and civil cases. He has testified and lectured with experts, the public, and student organizations around the world, held several conferences, held faculty appointments, authored dozens of books and hundreds of academic papers, and is an award-winning They collaborated on numerous film and television projects, including the films “JFK” and “Concussion.”
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro described Vecht as a “legendary figure in forensic pathology and criminal justice” in a statement posted to It’s a source of inspiration,” he added.
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Forensic pathologist Cyril Wecht conducted a 10-year private investigation into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. (Getty Images)
“Throughout my career, Cyril has shown me true kindness and taught me many lessons about public service. Today, Lori and I are proud to be together with his wife Sigrid, their four children, and the Wecht family. Praying for all of you. I said this to his son today: Judge David Vecht, Cyril lived a full, influential and meaningful life, and Cyril Vecht will be remembered forever. God bless you,” Shapiro said.
Dr. Michael Baden, also a prominent forensic pathologist, worked with Vecht on the U.S. House Select Committee on Assassinations, which investigated the murders of JFK and Martin Luther King Jr.junior
“He was devoted to his family.”
“He was very intelligent. He was a forensic pathologist as well as a lawyer. He had won several public speaking awards in college. He was a very good speaker,” Baden said of his late colleague. “And he was devoted to his family. He had a wife. He had four children. And they met every week. Every Sunday or so, they would have dinner together. He was a public figure, but also very much a family man.”
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U.S. crime scene investigator Michael Hague (right) speaks with Dr. Cyril H. Vecht while collecting evidence in Tainan on March 29, 2004. This is the location where an assassination attempt on the President of the Republic of China, Chen Shui-bian, took place on March 19th. (Sam Yeh/AFP)
Baden said he was a “controversial” person who “wasn’t afraid to have an opinion” that differed from the public.
”I met him when he was coroner for Allegheny County. And he came to the New York City medical examiner’s office to help Dr. [Milton] Mr. Halpern, the chief coroner, disagreed with Dr. Halpern’s opinion…and I was impressed with the person who came in and articulated his differing opinion very carefully and very scientifically. Ta. ”
Baden said there were “two giants” in forensic pathology. Wecht and Werner Spitz, who passed away about a month ago. Baden believes this is a sign of a generational shift in the field.
Dr. Cyril Vecht, a witness at the exhumation hearing for Mary Jo Kopechne, speaks to reporters on October 21, 1969 in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. (AP Photo/Paul Vatis, File)
According to his obituary, Mr. Vecht was born to immigrant parents on March 20, 1931 and leaves behind his wife, Sigrid, four children and 11 grandchildren.
He graduated from Fifth Avenue High School as valedictorian and attended the University of Pittsburgh. After receiving his medical degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Vecht enlisted in the United States Air Force.
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Vecht met his wife while serving in the Air Force and married after his honorable discharge. He then earned a law degree from the University of Maryland while working in the Medical Examiner’s Office, then earned his second law degree from the University of Pittsburgh around the same time his four children were born.
Dr. Cyril Wecht speaks at the swearing-in ceremony of his son David N. Wecht as a justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on January 7, 2016 at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. (Keith Slakočić/AP Images)
“Cyril began a long and distinguished career, combining his medical and legal training with his then-rare expertise in the nascent field of forensic pathology. “He served as an aide, medico-legal advisor to an assistant district attorney/district attorney, as a pathologist at the Veterans Administration Hospital, Leach Farm, and as an attorney with his friends David and Roslyn Littman,” his obituary said. There is.
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He was then elected coroner of Allegheny County for several terms and later served as Allegheny County’s first chief medical examiner.
He founded the Pittsburgh Institute of Forensic Medicine and the Cyril H. Vecht Institute of Forensic Medicine and Law at Duquesne University, where he taught for nearly 60 years.
Dr. Cyril H. Wecht collects evidence in Tainan on March 29, 2004. On March 19, there was an assassination attempt on Chen Shui-bian, the president of the Republic of China. (Sam Yeh/AFP)
“He worked passionately and professionally to discover the truth about death and injury suffered by others, bringing comfort and justice to countless grieving and victimized families around the world. I loved Pittsburgh and Allegheny County, and although I traveled all over the world, I would never have considered living anywhere else (other than two years of military service and a short stint in Baltimore after my discharge).” It’s written in the obituary.
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Vecht “loved his family” and made their “happiness, welfare and education” his top priority.
