Alfred L. Dezzi, retired longtime Philadelphia city and Pa. state official, has died at 77
His signature work began in 1987 when he turned Philadelphia’s nascent recycling effort into one of the largest and most celebrated municipal programs in the country.
Alfred L. Dezzi, 77, of Gladwyne, former assistant managing director of Philadelphia, deputy director of the city’s Criminal Justice Coordinating Commission, recycling coordinator and deputy streets commissioner, director of policy and planning for the Pennsylvania Auditor General’s Office, writer, and adjunct college professor and lecturer, died Thursday, Dec. 26, of complications from Parkinson’s disease at his home.
Energetic and innovative in every position he held, Mr. Dezzi worked in city government for 20 years, from 1977 to 1997, and served under former Mayors Frank Rizzo, William Green, Wilson Goode, and Ed Rendell. His signature work began in 1987, when Goode appointed him to lead the city’s nascent recycling effort, and he turned a controversial initiative into one of the largest and most celebrated municipal programs in the country.
He championed regular curbside residential pickups and public-private joint ventures, and the recycling program was so successful at the start that 90% of the pilot program households participated. Truck drivers had to be paid overtime to collect all the material, and his success was recognized by the National League of Cities and the U.S. Conference of Mayors.
By the time he left in 1997 to work with then-state Auditor General Bob Casey Jr. in Harrisburg, the program had grown from collecting 74 tons of recyclables a day in 1988 to 193 tons a day in 1994. “Recycling is truly about change,” Mr. Dezzi told The Inquirer in 1997, “and it will change the entire economic structure of society.”
He was an expert in criminal justice, social welfare, and public administration, and managed city projects on the courts, emergency operations, and numerous financial crises as well as recycling. Later, he worked as deputy chief of staff for Casey in the state treasurer’s office. He retired in 2009.
In online tributes, former colleagues called him “a wonderful person and a great mentor“ and “a real fighter to improve the world.” A former city colleague said: “They don’t make ’em like that anymore.”
Mr. Dezzi also taught classes in criminal justice, social welfare, and public administration at Temple University and Community College of Philadelphia. He lectured at La Salle University, the University of Pennsylvania, and other colleges.
He wrote editorial opinions and articles about recycling and public administration for The Inquirer and trade publications. A Daily News writer nicknamed him the “Head Honcho of Newspaper, Bottles, and Cans.”
He told The Inquirer in 1997: “I’m a designer and builder. I take something that’s nothing and build.”
Alfred Louis Dezzi was born March 25, 1947, in Philadelphia. His father died when he was 8, and he was reared by his mother and extended family. He played football and track and field, and graduated from West Philadelphia Catholic High School for Boys in 1965.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in architecture and social welfare at Temple, a master’s degree in public administration at Temple, and a master’s certificate in criminal justice at the University of Wisconsin. Before he entered city government, he worked as an architect and for the state’s justice commission.
He met Eleanor Fauls at a party in high school and volunteered to walk her home afterward, and they married in 1969. They had sons Chris and Jamie, and lived in Yeadon and Lansdowne before moving to Roxborough in 1979. He and his wife moved to Waverly Heights retirement community 11 years ago.
Mr. Dezzi enjoyed traveling the country and to Europe with his wife, and they met Pope John Paul II at the Vatican. Mr. Dezzi was an expert woodworker and avid cook and gardener.
He loved old movies, especially It’s a Wonderful Life, and collected musical soundtracks of Broadway shows. He called his grandchildren his “angels.”
“This isn’t just tree-hugging stuff. It’s improved productivity, improved quality of life, doing more for less, and that’s how cities are going to survive into the future.”
He was recognized by Temple for his civic achievements and by CCP for his teaching excellence, and he and his wife, a 1965 graduate of West Philadelphia Catholic High School for Girls and fellow recycling activist, were inducted together into the West Catholic Hall of Fame for their public service.
“He enjoyed being a friend to so many people,“ said his son Chris. ”He loved mentoring people, being challenged by his peers, and spending time with his friends, especially when food was involved.”
Mr. Dezzi underwent quadruple heart bypass surgery in 1987 and was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2004. “He always showed grace, class, and dignity,” his wife said. “He had a caring spirit and thought more about his family and other people than himself.”
Daily News columnist Jill Porter wrote about Mr. Dezzi in 1989 and said: “Al Dezzi is the damnedest bureaucrat you’ve ever met. He quotes literature and management principles, and has an objective grasp of the inherent problems of trying to accomplish something within an archaic system. … He’s still idealistic after 42 years on earth, 11 of them working for the City of Philadelphia.
“Wow, what a guy.”
In addition to his wife and sons, Mr. Dezzi is survived by four grandchildren and other relatives.
Visitation with the family is to be at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 4, at St. John Vianney Church, 350 Conshohocken State Rd., Gladwyne, Pa. 19035. A Funeral Mass is to follow at 11:30.
Donations in his name may be made to the Thomas Jefferson University Movement Disorders Center for Parkinson’s Disease, Office of Institutional Advancement, 1101 Market St., 22nd Floor, Philadelphia, Pa. 19107; and the Waverly Heights Foundation Employees’ Assistance Fund, Attn: Thomas Garvin, President, 1400 Waverly Rd., Gladwyne, Pa. 19035.