The Rev. Gregory A. Rapisarda, a former Harford County attorney and zoning hearing examiner who later became a Roman Catholic priest, died of cancer Dec. 10 at Stella Maris Hospice in Timonium. He was 79.
Born in Baltimore and raised on The Alameda, he was the son of Carmela Sodaro Rapisarda and her husband, Anthony Rapisarda. After attending St. Matthew School and St. Charles Seminary, he graduated from Loyola Blakefield in 1965. He earned degrees from Towson University and the University of Baltimore School of Law.
He married Carol Grimm after meeting her while they were Towson University students.
He was a law clerk to his uncle, Anselm Sodaro, chief judge of the Supreme Bench of Baltimore City. He served in the Maryland National Guard from 1967 to 1972 and was activated during the 1968 Martin Luther King Jr. riots and the 1970 University of Maryland Vietnam War protests.
In 1981, he was appointed assistant Harford County attorney and later served as the county’s zoning hearing examiner. He was elected president of the Harford County Bar Association and Harford County Chamber of Commerce and served on the Maryland State Bar Association Board of Governors from 1990 to 1998. He was Aberdeen’s city attorney from 1987 to 2006.
“My parents made a fantastic team over the course of their 36 years of marriage,” said his daughter, Gina Fritz. “My father’s law practice would not have been as successful as it was without my mother’s steadfast support. She maintained his bookkeeping, helped keep the office organized, and often reminded him that it was appropriate for attorneys to charge legal fees.”
“My father was energetic, positive and vibrant,” she added. “He was an encourager.”
In 2003, the Rev. Rapisarda became a permanent Roman Catholic deacon. After the 2006 death of his wife, he began studies at St. Mary’s Seminary and University and was ordained a priest in 2010. At the time, his son, the Rev. John C. Rapisarda, was also serving as a priest.
A Baltimore Sun story noted it was the first time in the 221-year history of the Archdiocese of Baltimore that a father and son were serving as parish priests.
“This is not anything you plan,” he said in The Sun story. “…In many ways, I can’t explain it.”
The Rev. Rapisarda served at St. Louis Church in Clarksville and later at St. Luke’s/Our Lady of Hope in Dundalk. He was also chaplain at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. In retirement, he held temporary posts at Immaculate Conception in Towson, Immaculate Heart of Maryland in Baynesville, and St. Margaret’s in Bel Air.
He played acoustic guitar, rode his bike and was a devoted grandfather.
“He never stopped listening to the music of his youth — Bob Dylan, Jim Croce and Neil Diamond,” his daughter said.
Survivors include two daughters, Gina Fritz and Joanna Herrera, both of Parkville; two sons, the Rev. John C. Rapisarda, of Harford County, and Greg Rapisarda, of Baltimore; a sister, Dolores Orlando, of Baltimore County; and 10 grandchildren.
A funeral Mass was held Dec. 20.
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