40 Facts About Cyril Wecht

Cyril Harrison Wecht was an American forensic pathologist.

Cyril Wecht was president of both the American Academy of Forensic Sciences and the American College of Legal Medicine, and headed the board of trustees of the American Board of Legal Medicine.

Cyril Wecht was perhaps best known for his criticism of the Warren Commission's findings concerning the assassination of John F Kennedy.

Cyril Wecht was born to Jewish immigrant parents in Pittsburgh in 1931, but spent his early years in a tiny mining village in Dunkard Township, Pennsylvania, called Bobtown.

Cyril Wecht's father, Nathan Wecht, was a Lithuanian-born storekeeper; his Ukrainian-born mother, Fannie Rubenstein, was a homemaker and helped out in the store.

When Cyril Wecht was seven, Nathan moved the family first to McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, and then to the Hill District neighborhood of Pittsburgh, opening a neighborhood grocery store.

Cyril Wecht attended and graduated from the now closed Fifth Avenue High School in Pittsburgh.

Cyril Wecht had musical leanings and was concertmaster of the University of Pittsburgh Orchestra during his undergraduate years.

Cyril Wecht served on the staff of St Francis Hospital in Pittsburgh before becoming Deputy Coroner of Allegheny County in 1965.

Cyril Wecht served as coroner from 1970 to 1980, and again from 1996 to 2006.

Cyril Wecht, obviously, is a national figure, international figure, in many ways so we're lucky to have someone of his stature here in Allegheny County.

Cyril Wecht became famous appearing on television and consulting on deaths with a high media profile.

Cyril Wecht was a clinical professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and an adjunct professor of law at Duquesne University.

Cyril Wecht served as a medical-legal and forensic pathology consultant in both civil and criminal cases.

In 1965, Cyril Wecht presented a paper critiquing the Warren Commission to the meeting of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

In 1972, Cyril Wecht was the first civilian ever given permission to examine the Kennedy assassination evidence.

Out of the four official examinations into the Kennedy assassination, Cyril Wecht was the only forensic pathologist who disagreed with the conclusion that both the single bullet theory and Kennedy's head wounds are mutually consistent.

Cyril Wecht was a consultant to Oliver Stone for the 1991 film JFK.

Cyril Wecht was hired by Callenders and Co, a Bahamian law firm, to do an independent autopsy on the body of Daniel Smith, the son of Anna Nicole Smith, who died while visiting his mother in the Bahamas.

Cyril Wecht attested that Daniel Smith died as a result of the interaction of methadone, sertraline and escitalopram.

Cyril Wecht initially recommended that Dr Joshua Perper succeed him, and indeed Perper held the title of Acting Coroner until Thornburgh appointed Dr Sanford Edburg to succeed Wecht.

One year later, Cyril Wecht was elected to the Allegheny County Board of Commissioners.

Cyril Wecht then lost the chairmanship of the county's Democratic Party in 1984 to Foerster's hand-picked candidate, Scott Township Tax Collector Ed Stevens.

Cyril Wecht then sought to become chair of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party that same year, but was defeated by Ed Mezvinsky, a former Congressman from Iowa.

When Cyril Wecht ruled the death of Dixon a homicide, DA Zappala refused to press charges against the officers.

Cyril Wecht continued to serve as Coroner until the position was eliminated in 2006.

In 1979 Cyril Wecht was accused of performing autopsies for other counties at the county morgue and depositing the fees from these autopsies in his private business's bank account.

Cyril Wecht responded that the funds in question had been used solely to upgrade the office and staff.

Cyril Wecht allegedly transacted approximately $400,000 of his private business work using county facilities and the county morgue.

Cyril Wecht's attorneys alleged that he was a victim of a political conspiracy.

In 1983, a civil court ruled that Cyril Wecht owed the county $172,410.

In 1992, the county and Cyril Wecht reached a settlement resulting in Cyril Wecht having to repay the county $200,000.

On January 28,2008, a federal trial against Cyril Wecht began, on charges of public corruption.

Roughly two weeks prior to the trial, 43 of the 84 counts against Wecht were withdrawn; judge Arthur J Schwab dismissed those charges with prejudice.

Speculation arose that the prosecution of Cyril Wecht was politically motivated.

On May 5,2008, the Department of Justice's Office of Professional Responsibility revealed that it initiated an investigation into the Cyril Wecht prosecution due to claims that the case was a "selective prosecution".

In October 1961, Cyril Wecht married Sigrid Ronsdal, a Norwegian immigrant.

On May 16,2020, Cyril Wecht promoted a less reactive and restrictive response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cyril Wecht died at his home in Pittsburgh on May 13,2024, at the age of 93.

Cyril Wecht was portrayed by Albert Brooks in the 2015 film Concussion.