Widely admired for service with Red Cross
When he was 5 years old, Jerry Cozewith stood alongside his mother and sister on street corners in his hometown of Bayonne, N.J., donation can in hand, to raise funds for cerebral palsy research for his brother.
“That began his career of service to others,” which included work with many nonprofit organizations — including one he started himself — along with his job as head of the Southwestern Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Red Cross, said his wife Rosemary Wallace Cozewith.
Mr. Cozewith — a McCandless transplant who oversaw the Red Cross’ efforts on 9/11, aiding first responders and the families of United Flight 93 victims in Stonycreek, Somerset County — died Saturday of glioblastoma, an aggressive and rare form of brain cancer. He was 67.
Mr. Cozewith and his family made their home in the North Hills in 1998, when he was appointed executive director of the local Red Cross, and they stayed after finding a special kinship with the area, Mrs. Wallace Cozewith said.
“It’s like a small, big city,” she said. “We really liked it here.”
Though her husband had worked as a Red Cross executive since 1980 in Salt Lake City and Syracuse, N.Y., nothing compared to the job in Pittsburgh, especially after Sept. 11, 2001, she said.
“It was one of the most difficult days of his life,” she said. “9/11 was the biggest disaster of his career.”
The Red Cross played a major part of the recovery effort in Stonycreek, so much so that the organization is recognized as part of the permanent Flight 93 National Memorial.
Just minutes after the disaster, Mr. Cozewith and others were dispatched to the site, where they organized a makeshift village of sorts to feed and house countless volunteers, firefighters and law enforcement officials, his wife recalled.
“I didn’t see him for days,” she said. “It was devastating just to be there and to be exposed to it, but Jerry was resilient and strongwilled. You would never know by being with him how devastated he was. He never lost focus, even after being up for 24 hours straight. That was his personality — he wanted to know who was in pain and how he could help. All he thought about was others.”
Mr. Cozewith was later recognized with the David L. Lawrence Award by Vectors Pittsburgh for his efforts during the 9/11 response with the local Red Cross, which also dispatched crews to Washington, D.C., and New York City.
Mr. Cozewith also oversaw Red Cross workers during what is considered the worst ice storm in American history, a four-day-long event in upstate New York and other areas of the Northeast in January 1998 that encased large parts of the region in several inches of ice.
The Central New York chapter of the Red Cross set up 80 emergency shelters for more than 4,000 people during the storm, which was blamed for 16 deaths and a record $2 billion in damage, including 8,000 snapped utility poles and 23 days without power.
Sue Coppins of Syracuse worked alongside Mr. Cozewith as an administrative assistant for 15 years at the Central New York Red Cross.
“He was a very special person,” she said. “He was funny, he was smart and he was caring, especially about youth. He wanted to be sure they were taught and loved and cared for. Everyone admired him greatly.”
After high school in Bayonne, Mr. Cozewith earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey in 1975, followed by a master’s degree in social work from Temple University two years later.
It was during his time working as a social worker for the Delaware County Office of Children’s Services in 1978 that he met Philadelphia native Rosemary Wallace through a mutual friend. The couple celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary in February.
Mr. Cozewith left the Red Cross in 2002 and worked for a time as the executive director of the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship, an international nonprofit, until 2008, when he started Entrepreneuring Youth — or EYouth — a nonprofit geared toward helping at-risk youth to become entrepreneurs and establish their own businesses.
“It was about engaging atrisk kids in the city who might end up on the wrong path, who didn’t have much direction,” his wife said. “He was teaching them how to build their own businesses.”
“He was a special guy with a heart of gold,” said his best friend, Ray Amelio of Franklin Park. “He was always thinking about ways to help people. He was really good at raising funds for nonprofits and development. He genuinely connected with people.”
By 2015, Mr. Cozewith accepted a job as director of development for the Sarah Heinz House. He was forced to retire from that position last year due to his worsening health.
A tenor who delighted in singing at family weddings, Mr. Cozewith was also a much sought-after public speaker who never failed to permeate his audience with his enthusiasm, his wife said.
“I was his biggest fan,” she said. “People were infected by him and his positive attitude, his smile and his not giving up.”
It was Mr. Cozewith’s quick wit and quirky sense of humor that first appealed to Mr. Amelio.
“We just hit it off right away,” said Mr. Amelio, who shared a story about a golf outing with his friend in which a poorly parked cart drifted away and ended up barreling into a local creek.
Mr. Amelio later gifted Mr. Cozewith with a framed golf ball and photo of the mishap and the pair often laughed about it, he said.
“I never let him live it down,” he said.
Along with his wife, Mr. Cozewith is survived by his children, Jessica, of the Strip District, and Bret, of Charlotte, N.C.; his sister, Robyn Dalessandro, of Sicklerville, N.J.; and one grandson. He was preceded in death by his brother, Steven.
A private memorial is planned at a future date.
Donations in memoriam can be made to Sarah Heinz House, 1 Heinz St., Pittsburgh, Pa. 15212, www.sarahheinzhouse.org.