Harry J. Pierpan

04/26/2002

Harry Joseph Pierpan, 92, of 1115 State Road died Friday at Sweet Brook Health Care Center in Williamstown, where he was admitted March 16. He was a longtime civic, religious and business leader. Mr. Pierpan served on the School Committee from 1947 to 1955, including stints as chairman and vice chairman. He was elected to the City Council in November 1955 and re-elected in November 1957. He served as president in 1961. He was a member of the Community Development Corp. board until 2000 and, at the time of his death, was a member of the board of the North Adams Council on Aging. Born in Adams on May 31, 1909, son of Umberto and Giusepina Giganti Pieropan, he moved to Lee as a child and was a 1927 graduate of Lee High School. He also graduated from the former Bliss Business College in Pittsfield and the Merchant and Business School of Business Administration in New York City. Mr. Pierpan began his career in insurance in Lee. In 1932, he moved to North Adams, where he was associated with the former Edwin A. French Insurance Co. for four years. In 1936, he established the Harry J. Pierpan Insurance Agency in the Empire Building, eventually expanding into Adams and Williamstown as Coakley, Pierpan, Dolan and Collins Insurance Agency Inc. He retired in 1975. Mr. Pierpan began his career in insurance in Lee. In 1932, he moved to North Adams, where he was associated with the former Edwin A. French Insurance Co. for four years. In 1936, he established the Harry J. Pierpan Insurance Agency in the Empire Building, eventually expanding into Adams and Williamstown as Coakley, Pierpan, Dolan and Collins Insurance Agency Inc. He retired in 1975. He was property management broker in the Northern Berkshire area for the Veterans Administration from 1956 to 1975 and a member of the Berkshire County Association of School Committees, serving as vice president in 1955. Mr. Pierpan was involved in Boy Scouting for more than 36 years. He was a member of the Berkshire Council, Boy Scouts of America, and of its executive board. In 1960, he was awarded the 25-year service pin, and in 1962, the Arrowhead Award. In October 1970, he received the Silver Beaver Award, the highest given to an adult volunteer in Scouting. In the early 1950s, he helped organize the Little Bigger Baseball League, the predecessor of the North Adams Babe Ruth Baseball League. He was a 70-year communicant of St. Anthony's Church and co-chairman of the fund-raising drive for a new church and rectory on Marshall Street in 1955. He served again in the same capacity for the parish center and school. Mr. Pierpan was a charter member, past president and director of the North Adams Lions Club; a member and past exalted ruler of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks Lodge 487; and a member of the former North Adams Council Knights of Columbus, the North Adams Aerie of Eagles, the Loyal Order of Moose and the North Adams Lodge 704 Sons of Italy. He also was active with the former United Fund of Northern Berkshire and was former director of the Northern Berkshire Development Corp. His wife, the former Norma Victoria Tadiello, whom he married July 11, 1936, in St. Anthony's Church, died March 26. He leaves three sons, Henry Joseph Pierpan of Williamstown, retired Marine Col. Herbert Elia Pierpan of Scottsdale, Ariz., and attorney Thomas Edward Pierpan of Largo, Fla.; eight grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren. Predeceased by sisters Mary Pierpan and Louise Pierpan Geisler. The funeral will be Wednesday, May 1, at 9 at FLYNN & DAGNOLI-MONTAGNA HOME FOR FUNERALS, West Chapels, 521 West Main St., North Adams, MA 01247, followed by a Liturgy of Christian Burial at 10 at St. Patrick's Church, Southworth Street, Williamstown, Mass., celebrated by the Rev. Daniel J. O'Hear, pastor of St. Anthony of Padua Church, North Adams. Burial will be in Southview Cemetery, North Adams. Calling hours at the funeral home will be tomorrow, April 30, from 4 to 7. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations are suggested for the St. Anthony Building Fund through the funeral home.

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