2008115 DSC-5529 Sparta - Pope John XXIII Regional High School 49th annual commencement exercises. 6/6/08 Photo By Joe Gigli

Frank Petruccelli, former diocesan schools superintendent, 82

A Mass of Christian Burial was held on Jan. 11 at St. Anthony Church in Hawthorne for Frank Petruccelli, longtime superintendent of schools for the Paterson Diocese. He died on Jan. 7. He was 82.

Born in Brooklyn, Petruccelli lived in Paterson before moving to Hawthorne 52 years ago. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Fairleigh Dickinson University, two master’s degrees, and a doctorate in education from Seton Hall University. Petruccelli held N.J. teaching certificates as a teacher, supervisor, principal for K-12, and superintendent.

Petruccelli had a 40-year career as an educator and administrator in the diocesan school system. He started by teaching English at the former Paterson Catholic High School, where he later became vice principal. Afterward, he became the diocesan superintendent of schools. Petruccelli was recognized by the Phi Delta Kappa Honor Society for his efforts in education and received the Distinguished Catholic Educator Award and the Knights of St. Gregory Papal Honor.

He was chairman of the N.J. Council of Superintendents and a member of the State Advisory Committee for the Gifted and Talented. Petruccelli was also a member of the County Superintendents’ Educational Committee, the National Catholic Educational Association, the Chief Administrators of Catholic Education, and the Governor School Nomination Committee.

Petruccelli initiated the Commissioner of Education’s nonpublic schoolteacher’s award and recognition program. He was a trustee of the Simon Family Scholarship Foundation and a Tri-County Scholarship Fund board member. He hosted numerous workshops and wrote extensively on Catholic Education.

After his career in education, Petruccelli became human resources director of Maverick Funding in Parsippany.

Petruccelli was the husband of Virginia “Ginger” Petruccelli of Hawthorne; the father of Laurie LaGuardia and her husband, John, of Wayne, Lisa Ballas and her husband, Steve, of Farmingdale, N.Y., Michael Petruccelli and his wife, Debbie, of Wayne, and Frank Petruccelli and his wife, Nargiza, of Wanaque; the grandfather of Alyssa Rahill, Ashley Gross, Amanda Lemieux, Nicole Ballas, and Gianna, Michael, and Anna Petruccelli; and the brother of William Petruccelli of Woodland Park and the late Judy Ellis (2008).

Please make memorial donations in Petruccelli’s name to the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation by pressing “donate” prompt at pulmonaryfibrosis.org

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