The Associated Press

LEXINGTON - Joseph L. Famularo, 60, who most recently served for eight years as U.S. attorney for the eastern half of Kentucky, died Friday at St. Joseph Hospital in Lexington.

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

Mr. Famularo had one of the most varied careers of any Kentucky prosecutor, said former U.S. Attorney Patrick H. Molloy, for whom Mr. 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," Mr. Molloy said.

Mr. 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 President Carter, and Mr. Molloy left office, Mr. 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 1983 through 1987.

Before becoming U.S. attorney, Mr. 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, Mr. 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, Mr. Famularo said he was pleased with his office's high criminal-conviction rate, its relations with state and local law-enforcement agencies and its efforts to crack down on abuse of drugs.

Besides his wife, Mr. 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.

Mr. 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. today at Kerr Brothers Funeral Home.

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