Anthony James DiLodovico

Anthony ‘Tony’ DiLodovico (1953-2023) will be out of the office and on vacation in majestic Naples, Italy under the towering gaze of Mount Vesuvius from now on. He will now forever be soaking up the sun on the crystal blue shores of Calabria, eating tortelli in the village of San Lodovico, and marveling at the engineering feat that was the city of Pompeii. Tony now gets to join his beloved wife, Mare, who has been waiting rather impatiently since 2019 for him to bring her a martini by the pool. She has had a waiter on standby ready to bring Tony a cold beer – as well as a list of things she has been meaning to pick up from the store. He also joins his parents, William and June DiLodovico, who have been saving space for him on a luxury cruise ship off the Amalfi Coast.

Tony lived and worked so that, every so often, he could be on a sun-filled coastal vacation with his family. He was born and raised in Staten Island, New York, spending most of his childhood on Hartford Ave with his older sister, Terry Dorn, and younger brother, Billy DiLodovico. He attended Monsignor Farrell High School where he was a top student and track star. He went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Manhattan College and a master’s degree from NYU Polytechnic.

After graduating from Manhattan College, Tony worked for the city of New York’s Environmental Protection Agency, overseeing projects in the New York metropolitan area and Puerto Rico. At a party in honor of his 24th birthday, he met Mary Ellen ‘Mare’ McGill, and the partnership of ‘Mare and Tone’ began.

Tony and Mare left Staten Island and relocated to Jackson, New Jersey in the late 1980s. After a few years of commuting to Manhattan, Tony joined a private engineering firm where he worked for almost 20 years, before starting his own consulting business, Tony D Environmental Permitting. In NJ, Tony became an institution in the field of civil engineering whose expertise was sought regularly by firms and associations, both public and private, for decades. He was a Life Director on the New Jersey Builder’s Association Board where he annually served on the Environment Committee. His hard work and expertise were regularly recognized across the state of New Jersey as he was recipient of several NJBA Industry Awards including Associate of the Year, Associate Hall of Fame, Associate Continuing Service and the Silver Handshake award. He also served on the board of the Ocean County Soil Conservation District where he was made a Member Emeritus in 2022.

Though Tony built an accomplished career and, with Mare, raised a family in New Jersey, his New York roots remained strong. Even when lying by the pool or on a beach, Tony had a way to listen to or watch his beloved New York sports teams – the NY Yankees and, because he was a glutton for punishment, the NY Jets. This devotion continued even when he moved to the city of Philadelphia. He could often be spotted walking near the Art Museum in a hat emblazoned with the letters ‘NY’.

Tony made the move to Philly in late 2020 to be closer to his daughter, Amanda DiLodovico, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, and to support his son, Anthony DiLodovico Jr., a college student in the Leadership and Career Studies program for adults with intellectual disabilities at Temple University. In the last 4 years of his life, Tony lived with Anthony and just a few blocks from Amanda. They had regular family dinners of exclusively Italian cuisine, football watch parties on Sundays, and weekend drinks at his favorite local bar because what Tony desired most in this world was to be near his children. It is fitting then, that at the time of passing, Tony was on vacation in his ancestral home, Italy, eating the most delicious food and drinking Peroni with his son Anthony, his daughter Amanda, and her loving partner Jude Buffum. Vacationing in Italy was Tony’s lifelong dream. Spending 2 weeks exploring Milan, Bologna, Modena, the village of San Lodovico, Reggio di Calabria, and Naples with his children was that dream made reality. He got to see it all.

Tony’s favorite holiday to celebrate was New Year’s Eve. He liked to usher in the promise of a new year across the globe: each hour, he would update us on the start of the new year in a different time zone. He passed away in the early morning hours of August 11 in Naples, Italy – still the evening of August 10 in his hometown of Staten Island. In between time zones, in some future and a past, Tony is now reunited with Mare on a magical vacation, donning a bright orange speedo and drinking an endless supply of ice-cold beer. Forever.