Musician, pioneering optometrist, newspaper columnist, even a late-in-life department store employee -- Squirrel Hill native M. Leonard Lincoff rarely wasted a minute of his 94 years.

Dr. Lincoff, who moved to Boynton Beach, Fla., in 1987 in an unsuccessful attempt to retire, died there Friday after a brief illness.

"He was voting two weeks ago, not easily, but he was engaged," said his elder son, Gary Lincoff of New York City. "It all came down at once, which is the way he would have liked it."

Dr. Lincoff began making a name for himself while still a student at Allderdice High School as the leader of and singer for Murray Lynn and His Kings of Rhythm -- Murray was his first name -- a dance band he tried to fashion in the style of the iconic Rudy Vallee. He continued with the band during his days at the Philadelphia College of Optometry.

"He played [the Steel Pier in] Atlantic City in the summers," Mr. Lincoff said of his father. "In Pittsburgh, he did weddings, bar mitzvahs, proms and graduation parties.

"I suppose he wanted to do this for a living, but his parents wanted him to have a real job. His parents were in jewelry, and jewelers back then had optometrists in the back of the store and they worked together," at Lincoff's Jewelry Store in Homestead. Later, he had his own office down the street.

Early in his career, Dr. Lincoff decided he wanted to do graduate work, and shut down his practice for a couple of months and went to New York, where he was trained to fit contact lenses. He pioneered their use in Pittsburgh as early as 1939, his son said.

"He developed a whole business with a large number of contact lens patients," his son said. "They were most difficult at the time. They had to be taken out and cleaned several times a day. ... It took a lot of training, both for him and for every individual who got them."

He also had contracts with U.S. Steel Corp. to fit workers with safety goggles.

Out of the questions patients asked grew a weekly column called "Eye Facts" that ran for years in the Homestead Messenger.

"There were questions from people wanting to make sure their eyes weren't harmed by the mills, questions about their children's eyes," Mr. Lincoff said.

In the 1970s, Dr. Lincoff heard of an opening in the West Hills Symphony for a reeds player, so he packed up his clarinet and tenor saxophone and went to the audition.

"He was nearing retirement and had time to practice and perform," his son said. "Not only did he get the job, he ended up in a trio, a tenor sax trio that played special numbers at various concerts the symphony gave."

In 1979, Dr. Lincoff retired from optometry.

"I know that because he wrote an article in a journal in 1981 that relates how he tried to retire and couldn't. He said something was missing," his son said.

Dr. Lincoff resumed working for other people before moving with his third wife, Glenna, to Boynton Beach, where he still found himself able to enjoy retirement.

"He went to Burdine's Department Store, which is now Macy's, and worked in the jewelry department for about 10 years," Mr. Lincoff said.

Dr. Lincoff also is survived by a brother, Harvey; another son, Bennett; and a grandson, all of New York City.

A funeral service was yesterday.