Bruce P. Frassinelli

Bruce P. Frassinelli
Bruce P. Frassinelli, a son of Italian immigrants who went on to interview everyone from presidents to paupers and mentor countless colleagues during a decorated six-decade-plus career in journalism and education, died of natural causes at his home in North Whitehall Township, Pennsylvania, on Sept. 6. He was 84.

At The Express-Times newspaper in Easton, Pennsylvania, where he started as a reporter at its smallest bureau, he earned a Pulitzer Prize nomination for a series on timeshare abuses in the Poconos and rose to the top editor post, leading news coverage as the publication was named one of the best 14 small-city newspapers in America by the American Society of Newspaper Editors.

After more than 25 years at The Express, he was promoted to publisher at a sister publication in Oswego, New York, The Palladium-Times, where he worked for six years before focusing on his journalism and communications courses for the State University of New York's campus in Oswego. One of the courses was in ethics, consistent with the career of an editor who developed a reputation for fairness and integrity and an affinity for the underdog.

In a ""Mr. Smith Goes to Washington"" moment, Mr. Frassinelli went to D.C. to petition Congress to have Easton returned to what had previously been known as the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton metropolitan area. With the help of then-Congressman and future U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge, the A-B metropolitan region once again became the A-B-E region.
His popular Newsline column in The Express was a direct conversation with readers who had questions about topics as varied as politics, professional wrestling or to how to send a fan letter to their favorite television star.

His curious nature led him to journalism, and he brought that same diligence to other aspects of his life. He set his mind to getting the top score of the video game Space Invaders at his local mall, mastering a boardwalk game of skill so his sons could pick out their prizes of record albums and actually hitting the ball at a charity softball game against legendary pitcher Eddie Feigner, who claimed 141,517 strikeout victims in his career.

Right up until his passing, Mr. Frassinelli was writing several columns per week for the Lehighton Times News, where he regaled readers in his home region of Carbon County, Pennsylvania, with stories of how he jumped out a window and scurried into a nearby cemetery as a scared pupil on his first day of school, or of how he found himself in a chance meeting with Princess Grace Kelly, or of his interviews with President John F. Kennedy and President Ronald Reagan.

At heart, Mr. Frassinelli was an educator - a trait he developed from his mother, Frieda, who begrudgingly had to leave school in the eighth grade to provide money for her family in Northern Italy.
He went to East Stroudsburg University to study secondary education and later earned a Master of Arts degree in political science from that Pennsylvania institution of higher learning, where he was the recipient of a Distinguished Alumni Award in 2011.

During a so-called retirement that was anything but, Mr. Frassinelli taught journalism and communications courses at SUNY-Oswego and a political science course at Lehigh Carbon Community College in Schnecksville, Pennsylvania, while writing a host of guest columns for local publications.

Also in Oswego, he was a district governor for Rotary International and continued his tradition of serving as coordinator and master of ceremonies for regional finals of the National Spelling Bee.
Mr. Frassinelli was born in Summit Hill, Pennsylvania, the son of the late Phillip and Frieda Frassinelli, natives of Northern Italy who correctly saw an opportunity to run a thriving grocery store to serve the mining community where anthracite coal was discovered. Their motto at the store was ""the customer is always right,"" even if it meant the store was closed and dinner was disturbed by a patron who wanted a late-hours bottle of milk.

The Italians who arrived in America with virtually nothing sent all three of their sons to college: Jack and Bruce, who earned master's degrees, and Charlie, who was awarded a football scholarship to Temple University and later opted to serve in the military. Charlie died in 2021 at age 89, while Jack died in 2009 at age 84.
The sons were raised with their mother's constant credo of ""Your word is your bond.""

Mr. Frassinelli, a co-captain of his high school football team, was inducted into the Carbon County Sports Hall of Fame in 2019, joining his brother Charlie, who was inducted in 1995. It was among a number of accolades he received later in life, in appreciation for his decades of service to communities and communications. The Pennsylvania General Assembly and New York state Legislature cited him for his more than half-century of contributions in communications and education.

Mr. Frassinelli began his career as a part-time radio announcer at WVPO in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, while a junior in college in 1960, then became program, news and sports director two years after graduation. At one point in the late 1960s, he was teaching a French class at Notre Dame High School in East Stroudsburg, working as a reporter for The Express and studying for his master's degree, all with three children under the age of 5.

His sons have fond memories of living-room football games in which they would hang on to their dad's broad shoulders as he trudged forward on his knees, vacations at the New Jersey beaches, sometimes-heated rounds of the Italian card game Scopa and their father's love of puns.
Bruce Frassinelli and his former wife Sylvia, of Stroud Township, Pennsylvania, raised three sons: Stephen Frassinelli (husband of Kristine) of Exeter Township, Pennsylvania, Dr. Paul Frassinelli (husband of Caroleen) of Anderson, South Carolina, and Mike Frassinelli (husband of Melanie) of East Stroudsburg, who was inspired by his father to become a journalist and traversed many of the same towns as his dad while working at the Allentown (Pa.) Morning Call and Newark (N.J.) Star-Ledger. He is also survived by two stepsons, Michael Monkiewicz (husband of Carol) of Plainfield Township, Pennsylvania, and Joseph Monkiewicz (husband of Brenda) of Ross Township, Pennsylvania; and five grandchildren and four step-grandchildren that he adored, Ashlyn, Fiona, Ciara, Nick, Felicia, Michael, Kaitlyn, Joey and Andrea. He was preceded in death by his wife, Marie, in 2015.

A Memorial Service is planned for noon on Friday, Sept. 15, 2023 at Thomas J. Parambo Funeral Home, 54 W. Fell St., Summit Hill. Calling hours are from 10 a.m. to noon at the funeral home.

Memorial contributions can be made to the ESU Foundation in support of the Warrior Fund. Donations can be sent to the ESU Foundation, 200 Prospect Street, East Stroudsburg, PA 18301 or online at esufoundation.org/give-now. Funeral Arrangements have been placed in the care of the Parambo Funeral Home of Summit Hill. Online condolences may be shared at www.parambofh.com.