Dominic P. LaRosa Sr.; owned construction firm

Dominic P. LaRosa Sr., 78, owner of the Willow Grove residential construction firm LaRosa Builders, died of Alzheimer's disease Sunday, March 28, at his home in Huntingdon Valley.

Mr. LaRosa ran the firm from 1951 until 2000, when he turned it over to a son, Damian.

In 1987, the Greater Willow Grove Chamber of Commerce named him its Citizen of the Year.

In 2001, the Upper Moreland Republican Party and the Upper Moreland Republican Association gave him a Man of the Year award.

Born in Willow Grove, Mr. LaRosa graduated in 1950 from Upper Moreland High School, where he played varsity baseball and football.

The son of an immigrant shoemaker, he worked as a carpenter and a mason for a local construction firm.

When he was 20, his wife, Deborah, said, a friend cosigned a loan so Mr. LaRosa could start his own firm.

"Initially," she said, "he was dealing with subcontractors and would start framing one house," and go on to another while they continued the job.

Over 50 years, she said, his firm built more than 2,500 buildings throughout Bucks and Montgomery Counties.

In the 1950s, his wife said, he was board chairman of Buxmont Realty, a buyer and seller of homes.

From 1960 to 1964, he was an Upper Moreland Township commissioner. He served a term as chairman of the township's building and zoning department.

The 1987 Citizen of the Year award, his wife said, came because he had donated land for two parking lots near Little League baseball fields and constructed a football field at Mason Mill Park.

From the early 1960s until 2006, Mr. LaRosa annually sponsored sports teams, often at least one team in the Upper Moreland Little League.

In 1996, his wife said, Upper Moreland High School named him among the first honorees in its alumni hall of fame.

Besides his wife, Mr. LaRosa is survived by sons Dominic P. Jr., Joseph, and Damian; a brother; two sisters; nine grandchildren; two great-grandchildren; and his former wife, Helen LaRosa.

A viewing was set from 6 to 8 p.m. Monday, April 5, at John J. Bryers Funeral Home, 406 N. Easton Rd., Willow Grove, and from 9 to 10 a.m. Tuesday, April 6, at Our Lady Help of Christians Roman Catholic Church, 1500 Marian Rd., Abington, followed by a 10 a.m. Funeral Mass there. Burial will be in St. John Neumann Cemetery, Chalfont.