Former Bridgeville mayor saw every day as a gift
Pasquale “Pat” DeBlasio Sr. didn’t believe in leaving words unsaid.
After a bout with strep throat and rheumatic fever badly damaged his heart as an 11-year-old, Mr. DeBlasio was convinced he would not live past the age of 42.
But the longtime certified public accountant and former mayor of Bridgeville doubled his original life expectancy by treasuring the days he was given.
“After his heart transplant, he’d often say, ‘Every breath is a gift from God,’ ” recalled his son Pasquale DeBlasio Jr., who also served as mayor of Bridgeville. “You learn to cherish life a little bit more, I think, when death is one step behind.”
Mr. DeBlasio Sr. died at his Bridgeville home Monday of complications from sepsis. He was 84.
He grew up in Hazelwood, the son of an immigrant from Reggio Calabria, southern Italy, who worked at J&L Steel for 38 years.
Throughout his life, Mr. DeBlasio proudly wore the watch given to his father as a retirement gift from the company and later handed down to him — it served as a reminder of the value of hard work and overcoming adversity.
“He wore it almost all of the time,” his son said. “He cherished it.”
Mr. DeBlasio had more than his share of adversity, especially when his illness robbed him of some of his childhood and threatened to cut short his life.
“He was an active kid on the streets of Hazelwood, playing around in the rail yard with his friends,” his son said. “Then, all of a sudden, he wasn’t playing with his friends anymore.”
While he was recovering in the hospital for more than a year, Mr. DeBlasio sought out information about his condition in the facility’s medical library.
“He began to read up on rheumatic heart disease and became aware of his life expectancy,” his son said. “He found out what would happen — he was always very knowledgeable and educated about it.”
From then on, his father saw life in a different way, Mr. DeBlasio Jr. said.
“To him, every day really was a gift,” he said.
In 1959, Mr. DeBlasio earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Duquesne University, where he was also a member of the Duquesne Red Masquers, the oldest amateur theater company in the city.
He began teaching at what was then the Point Park Business School when he met and fell in love with Janet Cichinelli, a CPA and fellow accounting instructor. The two married in December 1962.
Mr. DeBlasio later graduated with a master’s degree in business administration from Duquesne and earned his CPA certification with the help of his wife.
He joined the accounting firm she started in 1957, which continues today as DeBlasio & DeBlasio Associates.
His sons, Mr. DeBlasio Jr. and Franco, are accountants at the company, which also employs other family members.
His father could be a real charmer, especially with his wife and four sons, Mr. DeBlasio Jr. said.
“My father was a romantic,” he said. “He would bring her flowers just because he wanted to, and he always signed things with ‘WML’ — with much love. He was very open and affectionate.”
When the Community College of Allegheny
County was founded in 1966, Mr. DeBlasio was one of the first faculty members. He taught at the school until his retirement in 1998.
In his community, Mr. DeBlasio served as a Boy Scouts cubmaster and a lector at St. Agatha’s Church.
As one of the founders of the Bridgeville Community Association, Mr. DeBlasio was tapped to lead the 1976 bicentennial celebrations in Bridgeville, which was also celebrating its 75th anniversary as a borough.
His efforts caught the attention of local officials, who persuaded him to run on the Republican ticket for mayor.
“My dad was an outsider to Bridgeville politics,” his son said. “He came to Bridgeville when he married my mother, so he wasn’t a part of any of the local political families.”
Mr. DeBlasio was elected mayor in 1978 and served until 1986.
He was among the founders — and the first president — of the 18-member CharWest Council of Governments in 1981, and after his terms as mayor, he remained active on the borough planning commission.
Around the same time, Mr. DeBlasio began slipping into congestive heart failure, although his condition didn’t prevent him from taking his family on their annual summer vacation at Deer Valley YMCA Camp in southern Somerset County.
“My father never let his health stop him from the adventure of life,” his son said.
If anything, his condition gave Mr. DeBlasio more patience when it came to raising his kids.
“He paid attention to the details — that’s one of the things his condition did to him. It gave him the patience he didn’t necessarily have before that,” his son said. “He definitely smelled the flowers on the way past.”
In 1978, Mr. DeBlasio received his first heart valve replacement, followed by another set of valves in 1998.
By January 2005, a heart transplant could no longer be avoided.
It was the skill of UPMC Presbyterian surgeons Dr. Dennis McNamara and Dr. Brack Hattler (who died in 2008), along with the gift of organ donation, that saved his father’s life, Mr. DeBlasio Jr. said.
“It was all due to the absolute generosity of a family in the Carolinas who we didn’t even know,” his son said of the donor organ. “The heart had been rejected because it was traumatized. The doctors took a calculated gamble that gave my father an extra 16 years. It was that daring and brilliance that gave us our dad. We owe them a great deal.”
His father never dreamed he would see his own grandchildren, much less the great-grandson he was recently blessed with, Mr. DeBlasio Jr. said.
“My dad lived by the motto, ‘In the time of your life, live,’ ” he said, referencing the words of playwright William Saroyan. “He lived life without regrets.”
Along with his wife; his sons Mr. DeBlasio Jr. and
Franco, of Hempfield; and his great grandson, Mr. DeBlasio Sr. is survived by two more sons, Mario, of Conneaut Lake, Crawford County, and Gian, of Chicago; a sister, Elizabeth Ann Peters, of Ocean City, Md.; a brother, Roger, of Newark, Del.; and seven grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by his sisters Jeanne Skelly and Mary Stella DeBlasio, who died as a child.
Visitation will be Friday from 2-4 p.m. and 7-9 p.m. at Beinhauer-Fryer Funeral Home, 430 Washington Pike, Bridgeville.
The funeral Mass is to be held at Holy Child Catholic Church, 212 Station St., Bridgeville, at 10 a. m. Saturday. There will be a reception immediately following the Mass for friends and family.
Memorial donations are suggested to SouthBridge Emergency Medical Services: www. southbridgeems.com/donations or 178 Hickory Grade Road, Bridgeville.