Rick Cessar, longtime state representative from Etna, dies
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Rick Cessar loved his hometown, and he loved public service. He combined those two passions throughout his working life, first serving as a police officer for 17 years in Etna, before being elected the community’s state representative, where he served for 24 years.
“He was a great leader for Pittsburgh and Allegheny County,” said D. Michael Fisher, a longtime state senator and now senior judge on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Cessar died on Tuesday at Sunrise Assisted Living in McCandless, where he had lived for three years.
He was 93.
Cessar grew up in Etna and was a star football player at Etna High School.
In 1950, he married his high school sweetheart, Dolores Whitehill. They were married for 70 years before her death in 2020.
For 17 years, Cessar served as an Etna police officer. Then, in 1968, he became an administrative assistant for state Rep. Lee Donaldson, R-Hampton.
When Donaldson announced his retirement in 1970, Cessar ran for the House seat as a Republican and won.
Fisher was elected to the state House in 1974, and Cessar was one of the first people he met in Harrisburg.
“He was so helpful to me in my early days up there,” Fisher said.
When Fisher later was elected to the state Senate, the two often worked together on regional issues in Western Pennsylvania.
Cessar chaired the House transportation committee and was heavily involved in the Maglev proposal to connect Pittsburgh and Philadelphia with high-speed train service.
“It was a great idea,” Fisher said. “We almost got the thing going.”
The project ultimately was abandoned because of cost, Fisher said.
“Rick was deeply disappointed,” he said. “He spent a lot of time on it, and it was his dream.”
But Cessar was also heavily involved in other successful projects, including the establishment of Allegheny County’s Regional Asset District, which created a dedicated tax stream to fund various area attractions.
He and Fisher pushed the plan together, and it was passed by the state legislature in 1993.
Fisher remembered that the additional tax was not popular with Republicans.
“We thought it was the right thing to do and the only way to keep Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania competitive,” Fisher said.
Cessar’s son, Scott, said he also sponsored legislation for mandatory emission inspections in Allegheny County, even though it was unpopular, as well.
Cessar’s family also praised his work in leading an investigation into abuses in homes for disabled children across Pennsylvania and said his campaign slogan was “He Cares.”
Fisher described Cessar as having an upbeat personality and an ability to convince people when issues were important.
“He was a person everybody liked,” Fisher said. “He taught me a lot about working in a bipartisan fashion.”
Cessar’s son, Robert Cessar, said his dad’s best friend in the state House was Jim Mandorino, a Democrat from Westmoreland County.
“They worked together to achieve things for the people of Pennsylvania, not for their political parties,” he said.
Cessar was a delegate to three Republican presidential conventions and met and counseled four presidents, Scott Cessar said. He was being friends with countless elected state and federal leaders.
He described his dad as socially conservative, pro-police, pro-small business and a supporter of mass transit.
He also made people feel valued.
When he retired from the House, his colleagues named Route 8 in his honor.
In his later years, Rick Cessar worked for the Pennsylvania Community Bankers Association.
Robert Cessar described his dad as empathetic, committed to his constituents and as a loving father and husband.
Among his favorite memories were taking his children to their grandparents’ pool to swim and Saturday night family dinners.
Whitehill, Cessar’s wife, was a professional dancer as a child, Scott Cessar said, and the couple were known to light up the dance floor at local events.
They loved to travel and spent winters at Kiawah Island, S.C.
Cessar was also active in a variety of civic groups, including the Fraternal Order of Police, the Croatian Fraternal Union, the Regina Elena, the Etna Elks, where he was a past exalted ruler, and Etna Volunteer Fire Department, where he was a captain. He also worked with the University of Pittsburgh Institute of Politics.
In addition to sons Scott, of Pine, and Robert, of Shaler, Richard Cessar is also survived by son Rick Cessar, of Peters, and daughters, Christine Murray, of Zelienople and Candace Skiles, of Shaler; as well as several grandchildren and great grandchildren.
Visitation will be from 1 to 8 p.m. on Thursday at Bock Funeral Home, 1500 Mount Royal Boulevard, Shaler.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Friday at St. Sebastian’s Roman Catholic Church, 311 Siebert Road, Ross.