Bethlehem officials and residents paid tribute during Tuesday night’s City Council meeting to City Controller David DiGiacinto, who died early last week.
DiGiacinto, 61, was a member of City Council until being elected controller in 2013.
He died on Jan. 25.
“All of us were very stunned and shocked last week when we received word of the passing of David DiGiacinto,” said Mayor Robert Donchez.
The mayor said he knew DiGiacinto for years, not just as a fellow member of city council, but as a friend.
“He served the city with integrity and distinction and professionalism,” said Donchez. “He really will be missed.
“His love for the city was unquestionable. His love for his family was also unquestionable.
“It’s not just a loss personally for many of us, but it’s a big loss for the citizens of Bethlehem.”
“The city of Bethlehem will be hard pressed to find a gentleman of his character and ability to be able to become another public servant,” said resident Stephen Antalics.
“His absence on the scene will be felt for a good number of years.”
Resident Thomas Carroll said DiGiacinto’s passing was “amazingly sad.”
Carroll told council he was blessed to be DiGiacinto’s friend.
“Words cannot express how much contribution he did give to our city for so many years in so many roles. He will be missed by so many people.”
Even after he became city controller, DiGiacinto still attended council meetings — sort of.
No longer able to sit at the dais as a council member, he routinely would stand or sit at an open door right outside council’s circular meeting room in Town Hall to observe the meetings.
He apparently preferred that to sitting in the audience with other members of the city administration.
“He’s probably still standing back there,” joked Donchez during Tuesday’s meeting. “He used to like to stand and watch us.”
From his seat at the dais, council member Bryan Callahan said he could always see DiGiacinto pacing back and forth right outside the door during meetings.
“I could always see that shadow cross the door, cross the door,” said Callahan. “And when something sparked him, the shadow stopped. He would peek in.
“I’m going to miss that shadow walking back and forth. Tonight, I was looking over there for it and, unfortunately, it wasn’t there.”
“Dave was one of the smartest people that I ever met,” said council president William Reynolds.
Said council member Adam Waldron: “He was always willing to give you his opinion in a positive and beneficial way.”
Waldron remembers he was painting a house when running for City Council. DiGiacinto, who lived nearby, stopped by, saying he wanted to talk to Waldron for a second.
“He gave me some advice and we talked about city issues. I spent so much time talking to him and listening to him that, by the time I got back to work, my paint brush had completely dried out and I had to throw it away.”
“Conversations with Dave were rarely brief,” said council member Michael Recchiuti.
“It was not uncommon to get a text message from him about 5 in the morning.” He said he’d call DiGiacinto at 7:30 or 8 a.m. and get off the phone at 9 a.m.
Recchiuti said he will greatly miss DiGiacinto’s opinions and his expertise on financial matters.
“Nothing got by the man,” said council member Eric Evans.
“He could quote you every line of the budget book,” said Callahan. “It was amazing.”
Evans said the controller position was perfect for DiGiacinto —“for his personality, the experience he brought and the unique perspective he delivered. I hoped he would be in that position quite a long time, serving the city. Tragically, that’s not the case.”
Evans noted another of DiGiacinto’s attributes: “He didn’t care who you were or what your role was; he was going to deliver his opinion and have his say and make it clear where he stood.
“Being as intelligent as he was, it was a good idea to listen to that advice. He was always worth listening to, because he had a unique perspective in the way he came at a lot of things.”
Reynolds said one of the things he always respected about DiGiacinto was that, if he disagreed with you, it wasn’t personal.
Callahan said DiGiacinto was a very serious individual— “dead serious talking about issues” — but also had a great sense of humor that not many people got to see.
“The persona that we saw from Dave wasn’t really who he was,” said Reynolds, explaining some mistakenly thought he had some kind of animosity toward people.
As they became friends on City Council, said Reynolds, they would sit down together to have a beer or two.
“The first beer was always, always, always about how big an idiot I was last week. But the second or third beer would be about how much he loved his son Luke and how much he loved the city and even how much he loved all of us.
“As the years went on, Dave wondered what his legacy was going to be in the city and what his legacy was going to be in City Hall.
“After I heard the news, all I kept thinking about was that love of his son, that love of his family, that love of his city is a legacy we all can only hope that we can achieve. I hope Dave realized he had that legacy.’
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