Controller Jeff Glazier, Allentown’s post-Pawlowski watchdog, dies

ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Longtime Controller Jeff Glazier, who stepped into the role a decade ago amid a federal investigation into city leaders, died Tuesday.

Allentown officials were quick to mourn Glazier’s death.

City Council members issued a joint statement in which they praised Glazier, who attended most of their meetings until recent weeks, for his “decades of service (that) helped shape the city he loved so deeply.”

Glazier, an Allen High grad, served a dozen years on the Allentown School District’s board before he was appointed to fill a vacancy on City Council created by Mike Schlossberg’s election to the state House of Representatives.

“Allentown is better because Jeff Glazier chose to serve.”

Allentown City Council statement

During his first full council term, he was appointed city controller to replace Mary Ellen Koval, who resigned amid an investigation into pay-to-play contracting within Allentown City Hall.

Koval was later sentenced to serve two years of probation, while former Mayor Ed Pawlowski is about halfway through his 15-year federal prison sentence for dozens of convictions, including bribery and corruption. 

‘More than a public official’

Glazier was re-elected as controller three times since his appointment a decade ago; his current term was due to end in 2028.

“But to so many people, he was more than a public official. He was a steady presence in civic life, a neighbor, and someone who showed up for this city again and again because he believed in it deeply.”

Allentown City Council statement

He treated his role “with care and discipline, earning respect across city government for the seriousness with which he treated the public trust,” City Council members said in their statement.

“But to so many people, he was more than a public official. He was a steady presence in civic life, a neighbor, and someone who showed up for this city again and again because he believed in it deeply,” the statement reads.

City Councilwoman Candida Affa said Glazier is among the few people whose “presence (became) woven into the life” of Allentown.

“His fingerprints are on decades of public service, but his true legacy is something deeper: trust earned, lives touched and a community strengthened by his goodness,” Affa said.

City Council President Santo Napoli credited Glazier for serving Allentown “with a level of integrity and humility that set a standard for us all.”

Four-term City Council Vice President Cynthia Mota said Glazier “became a trusted colleague and a friend.”

“He carried himself with kindness and thoughtfulness in every setting, and he never lost sight of the people he was serving,” Mota said. “His passing is deeply personal to me and to many of us who knew him well. May his memory be a blessing.”

‘A kid ought to have his own bed’

Glazier was well-known to many as companion to his dog, Artemis, and owner of the family business, Glazier Furniture, which operated for more than a century in Allentown.

Glazier and his father, Leonard, were honored by City Council about four years ago for their work to support the Fund to Benefit Children and Youth, a local nonprofit that serves abused, neglected, and at-risk children in Lehigh and Northampton counties.

City Controller Jeff Glazier has been working to provide children in need with beds – and other furniture – for more than two decades. This year, he’s calling it a career.

The organization in 2022 estimated Glazier had delivered more than 8,000 beds and other pieces of furniture to children in need over the previous 22 years. And the city controller maintained relationships with suppliers to ensure the pipeline didn’t stop when he closed his business in 2017.

“Seeing how other people who don’t have (much) live, it keeps you a little honest. It keeps you a little humble,” Glazier told LehighValleyNews.com in November 2022 as he prepared his last deliveries to the nonprofit and his full retirement from the furniture industry.

“I’ll do anything I can to get those beds out of the door by Christmas Eve — because I figure a kid ought to have his own bed on Christmas Eve,” he said.

Allentown City Council canceled two meetings scheduled for Wednesday night “in honor of Jeff’s memory” and to allow members and staff to grieve, according to its statement.

“The members of Allentown City Council extend their deepest condolences to Jeff’s family, his friends, and all who are mourning him across the city,” members said. “Allentown is better because Jeff Glazier chose to serve.”