Skip to content
Obituaries
Link copied to clipboard

William Ciampitti, developer

In the 1950s, William F. Ciampitti Sr. sensed that the parents of the early Baby Boom generation needed a breath of Jersey Shore air for their families.

In the 1950s, William F. Ciampitti Sr. sensed that the parents of the early Baby Boom generation needed a breath of Jersey Shore air for their families.

"A lot were willing to escape the city and go for the summer, and Wildwood would be the solution" to their quest to buy Shore homes, Mr. Ciampitti's son, William Jr., said.

So, in 1957, Mr. Ciampitti began buying land in Wildwood Crest and neighboring Diamond Beach.

His land purchases, his son said, were "the initiative for the developments," especially on Diamond Beach.

On Friday, Aug. 19, Mr. Ciampitti, 92, of South Philadelphia, a former real estate developer there and in Cape May County, died at his home.

Mr. Ciampitti grew up near 12th and Mifflin Streets, graduated from South Philadelphia High School in 1941, and served in Army intelligence units in Belgium, France, and Germany, his son said.

He returned to Philadelphia to work as a clerk-typist for what is now the Department of Veterans Affairs and graduated in the early 1950s from the Wharton School.

In 1954, he became a salesman for a South Philadelphia real estate broker, his son said, and in 1955 opened Ciampitti & Morrone with A.J. Morrone, a South Philadelphia real estate and insurance agent, at 13th Street and Snyder Avenue.

When Morrone left in 1983, "it became the Ciampitti agency," dealing only in real estate, Mr. Ciampitti's son said.

Partnering with builders in Cape May County, Mr. Ciampitti saw his land develop into single-family homes in Wildwood Crest and Diamond Beach between 1983 and 1991, his son said.

Into the late 1990s, after his firm had been taken over by a national real estate corporation, he worked as a consultant, his son said, "the person to go to, to look over contracts," for clients.

Frank Leonardo, owner of Leonardo Realty at 16th and Jackson Streets, said of Mr. Ciampitti: "I knew him well. He was very helpful and friendly."

Mr. Ciampitti was a member of the South Philadelphia Business Association and Optimists International.

Besides his son, Mr. Ciampitti is survived by his wife, Rita; sons Robert and Bruce; four grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; and two great-great-grandchildren.

A viewing was set for 9 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 24, at the Church of Stella Maris, Ninth and Bigler Streets, before a 10 a.m. Funeral Mass there, with interment in Fernwood Cemetery, Lansdowne.

Donations may be sent to www.mainlinehealth.org/homecare.

Condolences may be offered to the family at www.monti-ragofuneralhome.com.

wnaedele@phillynews.com

610-313-8134@WNaedele