Scott Grim has announced he is stepping down as Lehigh County’s coroner effective Feb. 28.

After 26 years investigating the cause and manner of hundreds of deaths within his jurisdiction, Grim is looking forward to a new beginning with the Pennsylvania Department of Health.

Grim will be investigating violent deaths, working with other coroners, law enforcement and district attorneys to develop programs to reduce the number of these type of deaths.

According to the Pa. Department of Health website, “The Pennsylvania Violent Death Reporting System is funded through a cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and is part of the National Violent Death Reporting System ...

“The purpose of the program is to create and implement a plan to collect and disseminate accurate, timely, and comprehensive surveillance data of all violent deaths in the selected target areas using CDC guidelines.”

Grim said via email on Jan. 14 he would not be relocating from the Lehigh Valley for his new position, that he would be working both in Harrisburg and from his home.

“I leave the community and the county with one of the best coroner’s offices in the commonwealth and the United States,” Grim wrote in his letter of resignation to County Executive Phillips Armstrong.

“We were the first coroner’s office in Pennsylvania and second in the nation to be accredited by the International Association of Coroners and Medical Examiners...

“The ride has been wild and wonderful! The memories, good, bad, happy and sad will be with me until the very end. I may be leaving the office but I’ll be around.”