FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY JOSEPH FAMULARO DIES

Joseph L. Famularo, whose varied career as a prosecutor was capped by eight
years as U.S. attorney for the eastern half of Kentucky, died Friday at St.
Joseph Hospital in Lexington. He was 60.

His wife, Donna Glass Famularo of Lexington, said he had recently been
found to have primary pulmonary hypertension, an unusual illness that is
difficult to diagnose.

Famularo had one of the most varied careers of any Kentucky prosecutor,
said former U.S. Attorney Patrick H. Molloy, for whom Famularo was first
assistant during the Carter administration in 1977-81.

When Bill Clinton was elected president in 1992 and Democrats were able to
fill the chief prosecutor's job, ''There wasn't anybody on the horizon who
had the background he did,'' Molloy said yesterday.

Famularo started his career in the mid-1960s as a law clerk for U.S.
District Judge Mac Swinford. He was an assistant attorney general, legal
adviser to the Kentucky State Police, director of prosecutor assistance for
the attorney general, assistant law commissioner in Lexington and deputy
federal public defender before becoming first assistant U.S. attorney.

After Ronald Reagan defeated Carter, and Molloy left office, Famularo was
acting U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Kentucky for more than a year.

He returned to state government as chief deputy to Attorney General Steve
Beshear in 1982, and kept the job under Dave Armstrong, now Louisville
mayor, who was attorney general from late 1983 through 1987.

Before becoming U.S. attorney, Famularo was an assistant Fayette County
attorney and public-safety commissioner in Lexington.

As the Justice Department's chief prosecutor for the eastern half of
Kentucky, Famularo had what he called ''the greatest job I ever had'' and
spent ''the best eight years of my life.''

When he left the job after President Bush took office last year, Famularo
said he was pleased with his office's high criminal-conviction rate, its
relations with state and local lawenforcement agencies and its efforts to
crack down on abuse of OxyContin and other drugs.

After Famularo left the job in June 2001, he became a consultant to Purdue
Pharma, the company that had sole rights to make and sell OxyContin, a
painkiller that he had blamed for 59 deaths and called an ''epidemic, like
some sort of locust plague rolling through southeastern Kentucky.''

Famularo, whose work brought him only $600 in expenses, defended the
company in an opinion piece in the Lexington Herald-Leader, saying the
problem was not caused by the drug but by its misuse. He told The
Courier-Journal that he was impressed with the company's commitment to
reducing diversion and abuse of the drug.

Famularo's most recent, high-profile work was as temporary deputy secretary
for legal affairs in the state Transportation Cabinet. Gov. Paul Patton
appointed him in May to deal with state and federal investigations into
allegations of bribery, mismanagement and fraud in the agency.

Famularo headed a committee that concluded agency officials failed to fully
investigate allegations of extortion, monitor minority-hiring programs and
adequately supervise painting of the Kennedy Bridge in Louisville. It
concluded that the cabinet was unwieldy and needed greater accountability.

Famularo's regular employment since leaving the Justice Department was
assistant commonwealth's attorney for Bourbon, Scott and Woodford counties.
That choice of jobs showed his love for prosecution and his unwillingness
to give it up for more money as a defense lawyer, said Molloy and former
U.S. Sen. Wendell Ford.

''That was his life and that's what he wanted to do,'' said Ford, who
sponsored Famularo for the U.S. attorney's job. ''He wasn't after a large
salary or that sort of thing.''

But Molloy said Famularo ''didn't have blood lust'' as a prosecutor. ''Joe
was just a very easygoing kind of a guy, and as a prosecutor if he was
anything he was too easy,'' he said. ''I'm sure if he sent somebody to the
penitentiary they probably thought, 'Boy, that's the nicest guy who ever
put me away.' ''

Famularo also owned racehorses and at his death was general counsel to the
Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association.

Besides his wife, Famularo is survived by a son, Joseph D. Famularo of
Lexington; a daughter, Stephanie Casenhiser of Chicago; a brother, John
Famularo of Lexington; and a grandson.

Famularo's funeral will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday at the Cathedral of Christ
the King in Lexington. Visitation will be from 4 to 8 p.m. tomorrow at Kerr
Brothers Funeral Home on Harrodsburg Road.

Memorial gifts may go to the church's music ministry or school.