Thomas Vezzetti

{{short description|American politician}} {{Use mdy dates|date=June 2025}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Thomas F. Vezzetti | image = | birth_date = 1928 | birth_place = Bradley Beach, NJ, U.S. | death_date = March 2, 1988 | death_place = Hoboken, NJ, U.S. | office = Mayor of Hoboken | order = 33rd | term_start = July 1, 1985 | term_end = March 2, 1988 | predecessor = Steve Cappiello | successor = Patrick Pasculli | party = Democrat | profession = | spouse = | children = None | website = }}

'''Thomas F. Vezzetti''' (1928 – March 2, 1988) was the 33rd mayor of Hoboken, New Jersey, and served as mayor from 1985 until his death in 1988. He fought against the gentrification of the city.<ref name=obit/><ref>{{cite news |agency=Associated Press |title=Hoboken Offers A Plan To Curb Development |url= https://www.nytimes.com/1985/09/29/nyregion/hoboken-offers-a-plan-to-curb-development.html |quote=The plan introduced this week had been promised by Mayor Thomas R. Vezzetti, who pledged in the campaign that led to his June election to curb the development of luxury condominiums that he said had displaced low- and middle-income Hoboken residents. ... |newspaper=New York Times |date=September 29, 1985 |access-date=2015-02-13 }}</ref>

==Biography== Vezzetti was born in 1928 in Bradley Beach, New Jersey along with his twin sister, Louise. He said his father was a bootlegger who owned five saloons in New Jersey.<ref name=obit/>

In the 1985 Hoboken mayoral election, Thomas Vezzetti narrowly defeated Steve Cappiello, who had been the mayor of Hoboken since 1973. Vezzetti received 6,990 votes and Cappiello received 6,647 votes in the 1985 election, which put Vezzetti in the mayor's office. Capiello's support for gentrification and his attribution of several arsons to a purported tradition of Puerto Rican revenge burnings resulted in many Puerto Rican residents voting for Vezetti.<ref>{{cite book |author=Christina A. Ziegler-McPherson |title=Immigrants in Hoboken: One-Way Ticket, 1845-1985 |year=2011 |publisher=The History Press | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P2EVBAAAQBAJ&dq=%22Thomas+Vezzetti%22&pg=PA151 |isbn=9781625842152 }}</ref>

The New York Daily News called Vezzetti "The Wackiest Mayor in America"<ref>{{cite news | work=Reason | last=Welch | first=Matt | title=Hiking in Hoboken: revolting property taxes | date=2009-06-01}}</ref> because of the odd things he did, like reporting a car stolen that ended up exactly where he had last parked it two months earlier. Vezzetti was known for eccentric behavior such as wearing mismatched shoes, and carrying all his belongings in two paper bags.<ref>{{cite news |agency=New York Times| work=Los Angeles Times | title=Thomas Vezzetti, Colorful Mayor of Hoboken, N.J., Dies | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-03-03-mn-46-story.html | date=1988-03-03 | access-date=2009-09-01}}</ref>

On March 2, 1988, Vezzetti had a heart attack and died at Hoboken's St. Mary Hospital. He had never married.<ref name=obit>{{cite news | work=The New York Times | date=1988-03-03 | title=Thomas Vezzetti, 59, Hoboken Mayor, Dies|quote=Mayor Thomas Vezzetti, who fought against the ''gentrification'' of this Hudson River city, died early today of a heart attack. He was 59 years old. ... | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/03/03/obituaries/thomas-vezzetti-59-hoboken-mayor-dies.html | access-date=2009-09-01}}</ref><ref name=ego>{{cite news | url=http://www.nj.com/columns/jjournal/index.ssf?/base/columns-0/125031752487180.xml&coll=3 | work=The Jersey Journal | date=March 29, 1992| title=Some 'ego' or another will make it a race | access-date=2009-09-01}}</ref>

==Legacy== Patrick Pasculli succeeded him as the Mayor of Hoboken.<ref name=ego /> A street was named after Vezzetti by Mayor Anthony Russo in the late 1990s. "Vezzetti Way" ran parallel to Observer Highway. Mayor Dawn Zimmer later eliminated Vezzetti Way and replaced it with a bicycle lane.

==References== {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vezzetti, Thomas}} Category:1928 births Category:1988 deaths Category:20th-century mayors of places in New Jersey Category:American people of Italian descent Category:Mayors of Hoboken, New Jersey Category:People from Bradley Beach, New Jersey