Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com
The Neshaminy School Board has lost one of its members.
Robert Sanna, 42, a Democrat who took his seat following the 2015 election, passed away Monday morning after a battle with brain cancer.
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Sanna lived in Middletown’s Levittown section and was married with two children. He was active in the Walter Miller Elementary School community and often said he wanted to work with the rest school board in a bipartisan manner.
Voters elected Sanna on a platform of keeping schools open and moving the fifth grade back to the elementary school level.
Bill Appleton, chairman of the Middletown Township Democratic Party posted the following message on Facebook:
I first met Rob at a school board meeting. He was speaking up for so many in the community that did not want to see their community schools closed. Rob had up this point not been overly political. In fact he was registered independent. He felt so strongly about what he saw as injustice that he decided to run for school board and at that point he had to choose a political party. He choose Democrat based on how he lined up politically. In truth if you read Rob’s post on line you could tell he was a Democrat. Party affiliation aside Rob worked hard with members of both party’s to make Neshaminy a better school district.
I personally have lost a friend today. Rob was a good man, father and husband. He made the world a better place and this morning the world is a smaller place without him.
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Stephen Pirritano, a Neshaminy School Board member who always did not share the same vision for the district as Sanna, said the two were developing a good friendship as they spent more time together on the school board.
“For me, it’s really tough. It’s just sad. He was a good man who really did care and he was always a proponent of doing right for the kids,” Pirritano said.
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Board member Robert Feather released the following statement:
I knew Rob wasn’t doing well for some time. Not because he verbalized all the issues he was experiencing or going through, but because we spent enough time together running for our school board election, and the last two years on the school board, I was able to get to know him pretty well because we talked frequently and discussed many things over these past two and a half years including, to a limited extent, his health. He never complained about it once. Rob and I agreed on a lot of things, disagreed on some, and on others, we agreed to disagree. I admired him for his determination and dedication to push himself and continue to fulfill his commitment as a school board director, for the entire school district, especially through the most recent difficulties he experienced.There were several times today that I was distracted and unable to focus, and although I am saddened because I will never be able to talk to, work with, or share anything with my friend again, I am happy that I was able to share the experiences we had and to be able to call Rob my neighbor, colleague, and friend. He will be missed by many. Most importantly, my thoughts are with his wife and children, entire family, and all those that were close and closest to him, and to all of them, I offer my sincere condolences and support. Thank you Rob for being a part of my life and for being my friend. I will miss you.
Sanna’s viewing will be Wednesday from 6 p.m. until 9 p.m. and Thursday from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. Burns Funeral Home on Woodbourne Road in Levittown. A funeral mass will be held at 11 a.m. at Immaculate Conception Church on Chestnut Avenue in Trenton.
