VERONA, N.Y. -- A founding member of a popular polka band has passed away. Fred Scherz Sr. died Saturday after a battle with liver cancer.

Scherz was a founding member of Fritz's Polka Band from Verona. In 2004, Sherz became the first person in New York State to be inducted into the Cleveland-Style Polka Hall of Fame in Ohio.

Funeral arrangements have not yet been finalized.