Peter J. (PJ) Adonizio, area funeral director, has been chosen the Italian-American Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award recipient.
He will be honored at the association’s annual Columbus Day banquet set for at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 11 at the Genetti Hotel and Convention Center in Wilkes-Barre.
Adonizio was born and raised in Pittston, son of the late Peter V. and Eleanor Martin Adonizio. He graduated from Scranton Preparatory School, earned a bachelor’s degree from St. Leo University, FL and a diploma of funeral service from Simmons Institute of Mortuary Science, Syracuse, NY in 1983.
He completed his internship, satisfied the requirements of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and was granted a funeral director’s license in 1984.
Adonizio worked for many years with the Adonizio family business, the former Addy Asphalt Company ,until its closure in 1991. He then worked for Luzerne County as a probation officer and was appointed deputy coroner in 1993.
In 1997, he was appointed Deputy Court Administrator where he earned his district magistrate certification. In 2000, with a Supreme Court order and the formation of the Unified Judicial Court System, he became a Deputy Court Administrator for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Adonizio received a special commendation from the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania for his service to the judicial system as a member of the Judicial Council’s Committee on Judicial Security and Emergency Preparedness. He retired in 2013 after 20 years of service.
During that time, Adonizio also worked as a funeral director throughout Luzerne and Lackawanna counties. In 2001, he founded the Peter J. Adonizio Funeral Home on Susquehanna Avenue in West Pittston and operated there until September 2011 when Tropical Storm Lee caused flooding of the Susquehanna River.
He then relocated his business to 251 William St., Pittston, the location of the former Carl F. Adonizio Funeral Home.
Adonizio is a member of the Luzerne County Funeral Directors Association, Pennsylvania Funeral Directors Association and the National Funeral Directors Association.
He is also a member of both St. Joseph Marello Parish and St. John the Evangelist Church Knights of Columbus, JFK Council 372, Pittston; Moose Lodge #1207, Greater Pittston Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, Emanon County Club, Fox Hill Country Club, a board member of the Wilkes-Barre Law Library Charity Foundation and a former board member of St. Michael’s School for Boys, Tunkhannock.
He is assisted in the funeral business by his wife, the former Alicia M. Ghilardi, originally of Peckville, and the couple’s sons, Peter J. Adonizio Jr. and Joseph P. Adonizio The family resides in Pittston Township.
For more information and to reserve tickets for the Columbus Day dinner, call Louise Castellani at 570-654-6454 or Judy Deice at 570-654-7600.
