![\"Stratton](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/REG-L-strat-01.jpg\")
Stratton Marmarou<\/p>\nStratton Marmarou was a Reading policeman and detective who was perhaps best known to the broader public as a passionate and outspoken elected city leader.<\/p>\n
For generations of active and retired city police officers, however, he was known for another role \u2014 the founding father and steady pillar of the Reading Police Beneficial Association.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was retired from the Reading Police Department, but he stayed active in our organization,\u201d said Jackie Flanagan, a retired city sergeant who serves as the association\u2019s secretary\/treasurer.<\/p>\n
The organization\u2019s roots stretch back to 1924, when the City of Reading Police Pension Fund Association was established. For decades, the fund provided pensions to members and to families of deceased members through dues, bequests, gifts and fundraisers \u2014 most notably the Bentley Bros. Circus.<\/p>\n
In the late 1970s, the city government assumed responsibility for managing police pensions. The funds were split between the new city\u2011run pension system and the original organization, which was renamed the Reading Police Beneficial Association.<\/p>\n
\u201cStrat had a lot to do with that,\u201d Flanagan said. \u201cHe believed retirees weren\u2019t getting enough benefits, so he started the beneficial association, which was incorporated in 1979. He became the first president and remained president for decades.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stratton Marmarou<\/p>\n
Marmarou, who also served as a City Council member for many years, died Feb. 20 at age 92.<\/p>\n
To honor his legacy, members and their families turned out in force Thursday evening for the beneficial association\u2019s annual Scholarship and Benefit Baseball Night at the Reading Fightin Phils\u2019 Redner\u2019s Event Center.<\/p>\n
State Sen. Judy Schwank and Berks County District Attorney John T. Adams were among the invited guests. Both delivered brief remarks at the start of the program.<\/p>\n
Before the buffet lines opened, Peter Marmarou accepted a commemorative plaque on behalf of his family in recognition of his father\u2019s lasting contributions to the organization and the community.<\/p>\n
Association President Kyle Rentschler called the room\u2019s attention to another highlight of the evening \u2014 one that he said tied together the association\u2019s past, present and future.<\/p>\n
He presented the association\u2019s second annual Stratton Marmarou Scholarship to Henry Brea, a 17\u2011year\u2011old Reading High School graduate who plans to pursue a criminal justice degree this fall at Penn State Berks. Brea was recommended for the $1,000 award by the Reading High School Scholarship Committee. The award was created last year while Marmarou was still alive.<\/p>\n
In addition to the singular Marmarou scholarship, the association recognized 26 other college scholarship recipients \u2014 children of Reading Police Department members \u2014 who each received smaller scholarships to support their educational goals.<\/p>\n
Walter Balkiewicz, American Legion Gregg American Legion Post 12 of Reading, presented that organization\u2019s Officer of the Year Award to Reading police Officer Zachary Rivera.<\/p>\n
Association President Kyle Rentschler, a retired Reading police lieutenant who now heads the district attorney\u2019s Forensic Services Unit, read from the nomination that led to Rivera\u2019s selection.<\/p>\n
The account detailed an early\u2011morning encounter on Aug. 14, 2025, when Rivera, stopped at a red light on North Front Street and saw a man running toward him carrying a 1\u2011year\u2011old child who was not breathing. Rivera immediately took the child, cleared the airway with two back slaps and returned the now\u2011crying infant to the frantic parent.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause of his first aid training and his quick ability to know what to do, Officer Rivera most likely saved the life of this young child,\u201d Rentschler said, adding that Rivera\u2019s actions exemplify his service to the community.<\/p>\n
For many in the room, the night served as both tribute and reminder: Marmarou\u2019s influence endures not only in the association he helped build, but in the officers, families and young people who continue to benefit from it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stratton Marmarou was a Reading policeman and detective who was perhaps best known to the broader public as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":226796,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[349,182,139,28,736,128,130,129,706],"class_list":["post-226795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-berks-county","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-reading","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news","tag-top-stories-reg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226795","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=226795"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226795\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/226796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}