Melvin "Mel" Pollock, a longtime Monroeville businessman and painter, died Wednesday of melanoma at his Churchill home.

He was "90 and a half," as he used to say.

"He died Yom Kippur Eve and that has great significance for us," said his wife of 64 years, Beverly Pollock.

"There's a tradition among Jewish people that dying on Yom Kippur is reserved for people who had great merit," said his daughter, Susan Stein of New York City.

Mr. Pollock, who believed, "You have to pay rent for the space you take up on this earth," was an unflagging optimist with a subtle sense of humor. He grew up in Gallitzin, Cambria County, where as a boy he worked in the family business, Pollock's Department Store. He attended Gallitzin High School, where he was senior class president and graduated in 1936.

He studied engineering at Penn State University for two years, but had to leave college to look after the family store after his father fell ill.

He probably has his uncle to thank for bringing the woman who would become his wife into his life. His uncle married a woman who had a niece from Atlanta named Beverly King visit them in Williamsport, Pa., in the summer of 1941. After meeting the young Beverly, Mr. Pollock's mother called him up and said, "You've got to come here and meet this girl."

The adults insisted the two go swimming that very day, although it wasn't love at first sight, Mrs. Pollock recalled.

"We didn't like each other for about three weeks," she said.

She was madly in love with another guy from Georgia Tech at the time, but that soon faded. Three weeks later, she was gazing up at the sky with Mr. Pollock one evening and said, "Oh, God the moon is beautiful."

"I had the boys put it up for you," he replied.

From that moment on, she was smitten, although her daughters tease her about falling for that line, she said. The Pollocks married in 1944.

Mr. Pollock served as a U.S. Army Air Corps technical sergeant in the China-Burma-India Theater during World War II.

In 1954, he opened the Young Fashions children's clothing store in Monroeville's Miracle Mile and later ran Tweens and Teens clothing stores in the Miracle Mile and Penn Hills Shopping Center. He was a longtime member of the Rotary and the Miracle Mile Businessmen's Association.

After he retired in 1983 after 30 years in business, he studied art, theater and writing at the Community College of Allegheny County, Boyce Campus, where he fell in love with Impressionist art and theater, performing in shows in the late 1980s, including the lead in "You Can't Take It With You." He was still painting at Boyce weeks before his death.

As president of the Monroeville Arts Council, he created the "Pops in the Park" concert series, now in its 25th year. He also was involved with the Monroeville Arts Council Juried Art Show for 20 years, and the MAC created the Mel Pollock Arts in Education Scholarship at Boyce in his honor.

Mr. Pollock was named a Post-Gazette Jefferson Award winner in 1998 for his volunteer work at East Hills Elementary School, where he taught Impressionist art to fourth-graders weekly for 17 years.

In addition to his volunteer work with the school, Mr. Pollock and his wife became involved with the Shepherd Wellness Community, an AIDS community center, after losing both of their sons -- Robert in 1991 and Larry in 1995 -- to the disease. The Pollocks founded the group Jews With AIDS in the Family in 1995.

Mr. Pollock was a die-hard Nittany Lion, Pittsburgh Steelers and Pittsburgh Pirates fan who celebrated their victories.

"However, when they were doing badly, he would take it so personally, he'd have to turn off the TV," said his daughter, Sally Bedrick of Tucson, Ariz. "One of Dad's greatest joys was when we were able to take him to Penn State and had president's box tickets to a [football] game."

Mr. Pollock could sing the Penn State fight song, "Fight On, State," until the day he died.

A great storyteller, he also enjoyed gardening, cooking, genealogy and golf, and at 81 hit a hole in one at the Cloverleaf Golf Course in Delmont, Pa.

A charter member of Temple David, he became a bar mitzvah at 83 and regularly participated in Torah study.

One of the things Ms. Bedrick is going to miss most about her father is his attitude.

"He was so excited about everything there was in life," she said. "He would occasionally say, 'Oh, look at that sky, just look at it. Have you ever seen such a beautiful color of blue?' "

Mrs. Pollock is going to miss simply everything about him.

"I just miss having him here and holding his hand and giving him a big hug."

Besides his wife and daughters, survivors include four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Services will be tomorrow at 2 p.m. at Temple David, 4415 Northern Pike, Monroeville with visitation from 1 to 2 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, tributes may be made to Temple David or to the Shepherd Wellness Community, 4800 Sciota St., Pittsburgh 15224.