In Memory
Our dear friend and long-time chair of the New North Transportation Alliance passed away unexpectedly on March 13, 2010. We will miss his witty humor and intelligence at our meetings. He was a good friend.
Funeral services for Frank Margarella were held on Saturday, March 20 at 12 noon at the St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church on Cross Creek. http://www.stmarktampa.org/
In Memory: Frank Margarella was a founding board member of the New North Transportation Alliance (NNTA, formerly known as the University North Transportation Initiative). He served continuously and energetically since 1994, and led NNTA as Chair of the Board from 2005, until his recent death. He was NNTA’s essential link to the transportation issues and concerns of residents in the New Tampa area. Frank enabled NNTA to reach out to more people and organizations through his networking efforts and ideas for bringing together those with a common interest to improve the quality of life in the New North area.
“…throughout the many years Frank has been on the board he has given hundreds of hours of his time to the improvement of the community without any return other than a job well done! I know that I as one of the longer serving members of this board believe his input has made a positive result on the community and that those that live in it for the most part will never know how much.” Pete Hewitt, NNTA Board Member
“I truly enjoyed working with Frank in my years with the New North Transportation Alliance. He will surely be missed for his energy, leadership, and ability to generate new ideas and engage the local business community and neighborhoods to find solutions to transportation related issues.” – Heather Sobush, Principal Planner, Pinellas County MPO and former NNTA Director
“It was Frank Margarella’s presence in the mid-1990’s that gave NNTA the vitality to keep moving forward.” – Sara Hendricks, NNTA Co-Director
I met Frank in the late 90s, when he served as a founding member of the University North Transportation Initiative — the NNTA predecessor. He was a high-energy member of our Board, and an active, positive contributor of constructive ideas for moving the area forward. He seemed always to have a thousand irons in the fire — but he could still be counted on whenever we needed him. He was a passionate advocate for the interests of North Tampa, and just an all around interesting guy. I was so stunned and saddened to learn of his early passing… he really seemed larger than life. Frank, you will be missed. – Margaret Giery Dwyer, Former UNTI/NNTA Director
Frank was always willing to help whenever he was needed, even at a moment’s notice. His ideas generated many thoughtful discussions. I always looked forward to seeing him at our meetings. His passion and energy will be missed. - Julie Bond, NNTA Co-Director
