Pasquale 'Pat' Polillo, 75, KYW-TV general manager

Former KYW-TV (Channel 3) general manager Pasquale "Pat" Polillo, 75, whose feisty editorials made him as recognizable to Philadelphia-area viewers as the on-air anchors, died of a brain tumor Tuesday at his home on Cape Cod.

Mr. Polillo joined Channel 3, now known as CBS3, as general manager in 1980. He soon hired popular sports radio personality Howard Eskin and an unknown newscaster, Pat Ciarrocchi, who was working at a television station in Western Maryland.

"At the time, he was taking a chance, trying to build a 'hometown team' of reporters and anchors who he believed would really care about this community," Ciarrocchi, who grew up in Kennett Square, said yesterday.

Channel 3 was Mr. Polillo's fifth challenge. He had been a news director at stations in Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Atlanta and, in the late 1960s, Philadelphia - at Channel 6. One of his hires there was Larry Kane.

Mr. Polillo encouraged the use of new minicams to cover live events and developed the I-Team concept - in-depth investigations by teams of experienced reporters working solely on long-term projects.

KYW's I-Team in Philadelphia uncovered deficiencies in the state Liquor Control Board system and misappropriations of funds by a health-care agency, among other projects. The team won 36 national, state and local awards for its work.

Mr. Polillo also won awards - including local Emmys - for his editorials. "He was the first GM to put a public corporate face on KYW-TV," Ciarrocchi said.

His action-oriented editorials "must get things done," Mr. Polillo told The Inquirer in 1981. "If they don't, then they're what most editorials have always been - words."

Each of his 100-second spots was shot on location and focused on a specific issue, stressed viewer participation, and ended with this invitation for viewers to respond: "I'm Pat Polillo, and here's the address."

The editorials' successful campaigns included helping to change Pennsylvania's auto-safety inspections from two to one a year and changing two-way tolls on bridges between New Jersey and Pennsylvania to one-way.

Despite the popularity of his editorials and the accomplishments of the I-Team, Mr. Polillo failed to deliver the ratings his bosses desired, and in 1984 he was kicked upstairs to become corporate vice president/East Coast for Group W. Several months later, he left Group W to run his own consulting firm, Catalyst Plus in Chestnut Hill.

Mr. Polillo grew up in Baltimore and at 16 was volunteering at a local radio station. Three years later he was working at a television station WAAM-TV in Baltimore as a projectionist, cameraman, and on-air talent.

In 1956, he earned a bachelor's degree from St. John's College in Annapolis. The school emphasized the classics. Mr. Polillo later kept a wall of books in his office by authors including Plato, Montaigne, Goethe, and St. Augustine and for years organized Great Book seminars for children and adults.

After graduating from college, Mr. Polillo served in Army counterintelligence in Germany for two years. He then earned a master's degree in German literature from Johns Hopkins University.

In 1998, he retired to Cape Cod, Mass., with his third wife, Kristine Soly. The couple had met as next-door neighbors in Chestnut Hill and married in 1989.

He was a passionate tennis player, his wife said. Though he battled brain tumors since 2003 and had five surgeries, he played several times a week until December, she said.

In addition to his wife, he is survived by his mother, Adeline Polillo; sons Anatole and Michael; a daughter, Sloan Winkes; a stepson, Andrew Popielarski; a sister; four grandchildren; and former wives Faye Polillo and Sandy Innes. A son, Kyle, died earlier this year.

Services will be private. The Philadelphia Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences will pay tribute to Mr. Polillo at its Emmy awards ceremony Sept. 13. Mr. Polillo was a founding member of the chapter.