Former Trafford mayor served community, country and school

Former Trafford mayor Reynold “Rey” Peduzzi had a love for this faith, family, education, community and the military, and he served all of them.

Well.

“They were his five pillars,” said his son, Ronald Peduzzi of Hilton Head, S.C.

Peduzzi, 88, of Harrison City, a former longtime Trafford resident, died Monday, May 2, 2022.

He was born Aug. 17, 1933, in Trafford, the son of the late Reynold A. and Anna A. Belli Peduzzi.

Rey graduated from Trafford High School Class of 1951. He earned his bachelor’s degree at Geneva College in Beaver Falls and his master’s degree from Duquesne University.

Rey’s son, Ron Peduzzi, recalled how his father and twin brother, also named Ron Peduzzi, played football together — his father at right guard and his twin brother at left guard — at Trafford High School and then at Geneva College. Rey was inducted into the Geneva College Hall of Fame and his brother, Ron, was a member of the Geneva College All-Time Football Team.

“They had much in common,” Ron Peduzzi said of his father and his uncle, who died in July 2021. “That was a true brotherhood.”

The Peduzzi twins followed their older brother, Carl, who had served in the military.

They joined the Marine Corps and when they were placed in different platoons in basic training, it was the first time they were apart, Ron Peduzzi said. His father became a lieutenant and served from 1955-1961, while his twin remained in the Marines for 30 years. He was a member of the Marine Corps League-Forbes Trail Detachment 797.

Peduzzi was chairman of the Trafford Veterans Memorial Park Committee.

“He wanted to honor the veterans,” his son said. “That was very important to him.”

The Peduzzi twins were both educators and high school principals. Rey started his teaching career at East Liverpool, Ohio, and then in Midland High School in Beaver County. He served 23 years at the former Trafford High School and then Penn-Trafford High School, as its first principal in 1972.

Ron Peduzzi served 25 years as Norwin High School principal.

“I believe it was their mission to serve young people and to help young people out,” Rey’s son said.

And that extended to his children, he said.

“My father was always giving us advice. He was teaching all his life.”

Rey Peduzzi got into politics after retiring as a principal in 1991. In a 2017 interview with the Tribune-Review, he said his family joked that he needed to do something to remain active.

Peduzzi was elected mayor in 1993 and re-elected in 1997. He resigned in February 1999, realizing, as he said, that the mayor’s position did not have much power.

So he was elected to council in 1999 and remained until 2003. Borough council appointed Peduzzi mayor in 2010. Peduzzi won the election to a full term in 2013 and then resigned in 2015.

“He was in politics,” Peduzzi’s son said, “but he was not much of a politician.”

He was a charter member of Westmoreland Heritage Trail, which stretches from Trafford to Export, and then from Delmont to Saltsburg.

“He was relentless,” Peduzzi’s son said. “He wanted to extend it to Turtle Creek.”

He was preceded in death by his brother, Carl J. Peduzzi; and his twin brother, Ronald E. Peduzzi.

In addition to his son, Ronald, he is survived by his wife of 62 years, Bibiana McCormack Peduzzi; two other sons, Gregory Peduzzi of Irwin, and Mark Peduzzi of Harrison City; and a daughter, Lisa Konopka of Harrison City; 14 grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; and a sister.

Family and friends will be received from 2 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday in the John M. Dobrinick Funeral Home Inc., 702 Seventh St., Trafford. Parting prayers and a funeral Mass in St. Regis Church, Trafford, will be held Friday at a time to be announced. Interment will follow with military honors in the New St. Joseph Cemetery, North Versailles.

Memorial donations can be made to the Trafford Historical Society, 416 Brinton Ave., Trafford, PA 15085.