{"id":17173,"date":"2025-10-28T01:11:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T01:11:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/17173\/"},"modified":"2025-10-28T01:11:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T01:11:13","slug":"guest-commentary-john-saler-a-tribute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/17173\/","title":{"rendered":"Guest Commentary: John Saler, A Tribute"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Editor\u2019s note: Lobbyist John Saler was long one of the city\u2019s most influential backroom players, friend and advisor to Mayor Michael Nutter, Governor Josh Shapiro and Senator Bob Casey, to name a few. He was also a larger than life Philly character who lived many lives \u2014 a onetime candidate for Lieutenant Governor, TV anchor, Hollywood film producer and political consigliere. A who\u2019s who of Philly politics turned out for Sunday\u2019s funeral. Here, Philadelphia magazine Chairman and CEO David Lipson\u2019s eulogy to his longtime friend.<\/p>\n

I want to begin by saying that while my reflections are personal, I know they represent just a small part of who John was \u2014 because he was a strong presence, a true character, and someone who made an impact on everyone in this room. My hope is that as I share my memories, they spark your own \u2014 that they take you back to moments with John where you laughed, where he helped you, or where he simply made your day better just by being himself.<\/p>\n

I met John through my cousin, not long after I moved back to Philadelphia way back in 1986. John was also returning to the city \u2014 he\u2019d been away for years \u2014 so we were both rediscovering Philly, figuring out our next chapters.<\/p>\n

Our friendship really began when we decided to join the Germantown Cricket Club, this beautiful, old tennis club in the middle of a struggling neighborhood. My first image of John is still vivid: blonde hair, Ray-Ban aviators, and him flailing away at a tennis ball. Not exactly a graceful sight \u2014 but that was the start of a friendship that would last decades.<\/p>\n

John\u2019s life and career were anything but predictable \u2014 and that\u2019s what made him so interesting. He went to George Washington University, where his roommate was Alec Baldwin. (The Alec Baldwin!) He loved telling me Alec Baldwin stories. He worked as a copy boy at The Washington Post and loved telling stories about his \u201caccidental-on-purpose\u201d run-ins with Katharine Graham. He then worked at a news station in Virginia and even filled in as a weatherman once \u2014 what I would pay to see John Saler as a weatherman!<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the thing about John:\u00a0if he told you he was going to do something, he did it.\u00a0Always.<\/p>\n

He worked for David Susskind<\/a> in New York and, later even co-produced a movie starring James Earl Jones and Gregory Hines<\/a>.<\/p>\n

When John came back home to Philadelphia he pivoted again \u2014 this time into financial services. I became one of his clients. And as he moved into politics and government relations, we kept finding ways to work together \u2014 as his customer, his colleague, his collaborator and his friend.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the thing about John: if he told you he was going to do something, he did it. Always. And when he asked you for something, you somehow always found yourself saying, \u201cYes.\u201d I hired him to buy insurance for my company. I hired him for government relations. I hired his law firm. And when [his wife] Christina asked me to speak today about John \u2014 well, of course, the answer was yes.<\/p>\n

John built quite a r\u00e9sum\u00e9 \u2014 candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania, chair of the Philadelphia Airport Advisory Board, board member of the Orchestra, early and passionate supporter of Governor Shapiro. John was alo instrumental in Senator Casey\u2019s and Mayor Nutter\u2019s careers and I\u2019m sure his family is very grateful they are both here today.\u00a0 He made things happen. Wherever he went, he delivered results.<\/p>\n

\"\"John and Christina Saler at the 2019 Academy Ball. Photo courtesy Philly ChitChat. Laughing all the way <\/p>\n

But as impressive as all that sounds, what I\u2019ll remember most is his humor \u2014 and his love of laughter. One of my favorite memories is lunch at Susanna Foo. My head of operations and I were waiting by the window, and I said, \u201cWatch this.\u201d I had witnessed this scene many times before.<\/p>\n

Here comes John \u2014 cigar in hand \u2014 walking down Sansom Street. He stops at a fire hydrant, tamps it out, and balances the cigar right on top \u2014 saving it for after lunch. Sure enough, we finish eating, walk outside, and there it is. He picks it up, relights it, and off he goes in a puff of smoke. Man, he loved his cigars!<\/p>\n

Lunch with John was never a short affair. He\u2019d always have an appetizer, a main course, and dessert \u2014and every single time, he\u2019d lean over and say, \u201cDon\u2019t tell Chris I had dessert.\u201d<\/p>\n

If I had a nickel for every time I heard that \u2026 And every lunch started the same way. The waiter would ask, \u201cWhat would you like to drink?\u201d<\/p>\n

John would say, \u201cI\u2019d like a Diet Pepsi.\u201d<\/p>\n

The waiter would reply, \u201cWe only have Coke.\u201d<\/p>\n

And John \u2014 without missing a beat \u2014 would say, \u201cI don\u2019t care. I want a Diet Pepsi.\u201d That exchange went on for years. His loyalty ran deep \u2014 even with his soda.<\/p>\n

When he co-produced that movie, he worked closely with Shirley and Richard Hahn and he developed a closeness with the Honickman family, owners of the Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company. From then on, Diet Pepsi wasn\u2019t just a drink \u2014 it was a statement of deep loyalty and friendship.<\/p>\n

Every lunch was filled with stories, laughter, and his unique brand of Jewish humor. In another life, John could\u2019ve been one of his idols, Mel Brooks. Sometimes I didn\u2019t even get the joke, but he\u2019d be laughing so hard \u2014 tears rolling down his face \u2014 that I couldn\u2019t help but laugh along.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll miss his phone calls to my office at Philadelphia magazine. He\u2019d start with, \u201cHeff!\u201d \u2014 short, of course, for Hugh Hefner.<\/p>\n

\u201cHeff! You\u2019re doing a story on so-and-so. Is it going to be good? I need to know.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019d tell him, \u201cJohn, you know I can\u2019t interfere with editorial.\u201d<\/p>\n

And he\u2019d go right into the bit \u2014 \u201cAww, come on, you can help me!\u201d<\/p>\n

And, of course, I\u2019d end up calling the editor and saying, \u201cDo me a favor \u2014 just talk to John.\u201d<\/p>\n

Everyone in the editorial department knew him. We even featured him once as a person to watch.<\/p>\n

\"\"At left, David Lipson. Right, John Saler \u201cHe chose connection.\u201d <\/p>\n

I could go on for hours with stories like these. But I really want to take a moment to speak to the women in his life \u2014 John was deeply proud of his family. He adored his girls. Whether it was Izzy handling social media for Governor Shapiro\u2019s campaign, or Alexa earning that impressive scholarship to college \u2014 he told me every detail. He was so proud of you both.<\/p>\n

And Christina \u2014 he loved and admired you so. He spoke about you with such affection and respect. You were his partner in every sense.<\/p>\n

What makes his love and pride all the more remarkable was the grace with which he faced his illness. John\u2019s diagnosis of Parkinson\u2019s and Lewy body disease was a sentence to an incredibly difficult end of life. The three of you were his light. As one friend put it, John had many jobs in his life, but perhaps the job he loved the most and performed the best was husband and father.<\/p>\n

After John\u2019s diagnosis, a group of us \u2014 [6abc President\/General Manager] Bernie Prezenica, [political affairs consultant] Larry Ceisler, and [CHOP Senior Vice President] Peter Grollman \u2014 would make it a point to have lunch with him. At first at Hymie\u2019s, and later, when things became more challenging for him, at The Residence in Bala Cynwyd.<\/p>\n

Those lunches weren\u2019t solemn. They were full of the same old John \u2014 jokes, stories, and that spark in his eye. He never once complained. Not once. He chose joy. He chose connection. It was a show of tremendous courage, dignity, and inner strength \u2014 the kind of quiet fortitude you only recognize if you\u2019re paying attention.<\/p>\n

Life pulls us all in a thousand directions, and I know many here may feel a quiet ache that they didn\u2019t spend more time with him at the end. But John remembered \u2014 and valued \u2014 every friendship, every story, every bit of laughter you ever shared with him.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re here today, it\u2019s because he cared deeply about you \u2014 and that never faded. John\u2019s life was full \u2014 of laughter, loyalty, friendship, and love. He left his mark on this city, on everyone who knew him, and certainly on me. I will miss him terribly \u2014 but I\u2019ll always smile when I think of him: Diet Pepsi in hand, cigar waiting for him on the fire hydrant, laughter in his eyes, and a story on the way.<\/p>\n

David Lipson is CEO of Philadelphia magazine. The Citizen welcomes guest commentary from community members who represent that it is their own work and their own opinion based on true facts that they know firsthand.<\/p>\n

Contributions in lieu of flowers may be made in John\u2019s memory to The Philadelphia Orchestra<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\" REMEMBERANCES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Editor\u2019s note: Lobbyist John Saler was long one of the city\u2019s most influential backroom players, friend and advisor…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17174,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[3314,8737,69,71,70,12407],"class_list":["post-17173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-guest-commentary","tag-news-media","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-philadelphia-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17173\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}