For most of his 82 years — and for all 59 years serving his family’s business, Edward P. Kanai Funeral Home — Greenfield community leader Edward Kanai Jr. was a guiding light for an endless Rolodex of friends, family and neighbors.

“I know he always took great pride in being able to be the rock people needed at their worst time,” said his son, fourth-generation funeral director Edward Kanai III, of Pine.

In the funeral home business, there are many of those tough moments — and handling them with the right mix of compassion and, yes, humor, matters. He had that skill.

During one memorable service Edward Kanai Jr. hosted proceedings for 50 to 60 extended members of an Italian family.

“It was just a very somber room; they were taking it pretty hard,” his son said. “After the prayers — I

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