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A hero for developmentally disabled dies

Alexander E. Casatelli, 69, was the co-founder and president of Hope Enterprises of America.

By RICHARD DANIELSON
Published June 9, 2005

TARPON SPRINGS - Alexander E. Casatelli, a retired businessman and an advocate for the developmentally disabled, died at his home in Tarpon Springs Monday (June 6, 2005). He was 69.

Born in Weehawken, N.J., Mr. Casatelli moved here from Hillsdale, N.J., in 1997. He retired as the owner of a commercial interior design and blind fabricating company in New Jersey.

It was as the co-founder and president of Hope Enterprises of America, a nonprofit agency that provides services to developmentally disabled adults, that Mr. Casatelli became known in Tarpon Springs. He had co-founded and led a similar nonprofit agency, New Concepts for Living, in New Jersey, where he served on the Governor's Council for Special Education.

In 1998, Mr. Casatelli and his wife Mary ran into opposition after applying for city approval to open an assisted living facility for developmentally disabled adults in a home on Gulf Road. Neighbors packed City Commission chambers to oppose the home, saying it could bring down property values and worrying that residents might wander at night or become violent or too curious for their own good.

City staff members said the home met all the city's requirements for such facilities and that it had been used for such facilities as recently as 1994.

"We don't want to be different in the community," Mr. Casatelli said at the time. "We want to be like good neighbors."

City commissioners unanimously approved the home. The Hope Enterprises home is licensed for 10 adults and is currently home to nine. Staff members keep residents busy with activities like bowling, as well as excursions to events like the Special Olympics or Renaissance Festival.

Because of his declining health, Mr. Casatelli stopped his work at the Hope Enterprises home about a year and a half ago, and his son took over.

"It's a home," said Alex M. Casatelli, 47. "The interaction is like a large family."

Mr. Casatelli's goal was to help people understand that developmentally disabled adults like his son Christopher, who works at the Palm Harbor Taco Bell, were "not individuals to be shunned or put off in a corner," said Alex M. Casatelli. "They can be productive."

Mr. Casatelli, who had fought bone cancer for five years, died on the 25th anniversary of the death of his youngest son Douglas, who was killed in a car crash at age 17.

"I really think he held out the last day or two," said his son, Alex M. Casatelli. "It was always a date that was never far from his mind."

Mr. Casatelli was a member of St. Ignatius of Antioch Catholic Church in Tarpon Springs and was a past president of Sons of Italy Central Gulf Coast Lodge No. 2708. He is survived by his wife of 49 years, Mary L. Casatelli of Tarpon Springs; two sons, Alex M. Casatelli of Holiday and Christopher Casatelli of Tarpon Springs; a brother, Gaetano "Nino" P. Casatelli of Ocean Township, N.J.; four grandchildren; and one great-grandchild. Thomas B. Dobies Funeral Home in Tarpon Springs is handling arrangements.

[Last modified June 9, 2005, 01:18:10]