ALLENTOWN, Pa. \u2014 Longtime Controller Jeff Glazier, who stepped into the role a decade ago amid a federal investigation into city leaders, died Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Allentown officials were quick to mourn Glazier\u2019s death.<\/p>\n
City Council members issued a joint statement in which they praised Glazier, who attended most of their meetings until recent weeks, for his \u201cdecades of service (that) helped shape the city he loved so deeply.\u201d<\/p>\n
Glazier, an Allen High grad, served a dozen years on the Allentown School District\u2019s board before he was appointed to fill a vacancy on City Council created by Mike Schlossberg\u2019s election to the state House of Representatives.<\/p>\n
\u201cAllentown is better because Jeff Glazier chose to serve.\u201d<\/p>\n
Allentown City Council statement<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
‘More than a public official’<\/p>\n
Glazier was re-elected as controller three times since his appointment a decade ago; his current term was due to end in 2028.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut 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.”<\/p>\n
Allentown City Council statement<\/p>\n
He treated his role \u201cwith care and discipline, earning respect across city government for the seriousness with which he treated the public trust,\u201d City Council members said in their statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut 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,\u201d the statement reads.<\/p>\n
City Councilwoman Candida Affa said Glazier is among the few people whose \u201cpresence (became) woven into the life\u201d of Allentown.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis 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,\u201d Affa said.<\/p>\n
City Council President Santo Napoli credited Glazier for serving Allentown \u201cwith a level of integrity and humility that set a standard for us all.” <\/p>\n
Four-term City Council Vice President Cynthia Mota said Glazier \u201cbecame a trusted colleague and a friend.”<\/p>\n
\u201cHe carried himself with kindness and thoughtfulness in every setting, and he never lost sight of the people he was serving,\u201d Mota said. \u201cHis passing is deeply personal to me and to many of us who knew him well. May his memory be a blessing.\u201d<\/p>\n
‘A kid ought to have his own bed’<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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\u2019t stop when he closed his business in 2017.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeeing how other people who don\u2019t have (much) live, it keeps you a little honest. It keeps you a little humble,\u201d Glazier told LehighValleyNews.com in November 2022 as he prepared his last deliveries to the nonprofit and his full retirement from the furniture industry.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll do anything I can to get those beds out of the door by Christmas Eve \u2014 because I figure a kid ought to have his own bed on Christmas Eve,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Allentown City Council canceled two meetings scheduled for Wednesday night \u201cin honor of Jeff\u2019s memory\u201d and to allow members and staff to grieve, according to its statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe members of Allentown City Council extend their deepest condolences to Jeff\u2019s family, his friends, and all who are mourning him across the city,\u201d members said. \u201cAllentown is better because Jeff Glazier chose to serve.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ALLENTOWN, Pa. \u2014 Longtime Controller Jeff Glazier, who stepped into the role a decade ago amid a federal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":203562,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[119,121,120],"class_list":["post-203561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-allentown","tag-allentown","tag-allentown-headlines","tag-allentown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203561","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=203561"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203561\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/203562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=203561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=203561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=203561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}