Frank Dermody (born May 29, 1951) is an American politician. He was a Democratic member of the

Pennsylvania House of Representatives The Pennsylvania House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Pennsylvania General Assembly, the legislature of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. There are 203 members, elected for two-year terms from single member districts. It ...

, representing the 33rd district from 1991 until 2020. Dermody served as House Democratic Leader from 2011 until 2020.

Background

One of five children, Dermody was born in

Scranton Scranton is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Lackawanna County. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 U.S. census, Scranton is the largest city in Northeastern Pennsylvania, the Wyoming V ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, and raised in nearby

Clarks Summit Clarks Summit is a borough in Lackawanna County, northwest of Scranton in Northeastern Pennsylvania. The population was 5,108 at the 2020 census. It is also the northern terminus of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Northeast Extension, I-476. History ...

. His father, a demolition expert who worked in the coal mines, died when Frank was 7. To support the family, his mother worked various jobs, including with Capitol Records, the

Social Security Administration The United States Social Security Administration (SSA) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that administers Social Security, a social insurance program consisting of retirement, disability and survivor benefits. To qualify f ...

, and the

Pennsylvania Department of Transportation The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) oversees transportation issues in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The administrator of PennDOT is the Pennsylvania Secretary of Transportation, currently Yassmin Gramian. Presently, Pe ...

. After graduating from Abington Heights High School, he received a scholarship to play football at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. He earned a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

degree in history from Columbia in 1973. For the next five years, he worked in sales for two different companies in New York while saving money for law school. He received his

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice l ...

from Indiana University School of Law-Bloomington in 1982. Dermody then returned to Pennsylvania, working as an assistant

public defender A public defender is a lawyer appointed to represent people who otherwise cannot reasonably afford to hire a lawyer to defend themselves in a trial. Several countries provide people with public defenders, including the UK, Hungary and Singapore, ...

Harrisburg Harrisburg is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Dauphin County. With a population of 50,135 as of the 2021 census, Harrisburg is the 9th largest city and 15th largest municipality in ...

. He served as assistant

district attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a ...

Allegheny County Allegheny County () is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is located in Southwestern Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,250,578, making it the state's second-most populous county, following Philadelphia C ...

for five years. During his tenure in the district attorney's office, he was appointed by

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Bob Casey in 1989 to fill an unexpired term as district justice for Oakmont and

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city municipality in the region and the second largest in nor ...

, which he did for seven months. Dermody also worked as a legal advisor to Allegheny County's district justices, an instructor at the Community College of Allegheny County, and a faculty member of the Pennsylvania Bar Institute for Continuing Legal Education.

State Representative

In 1990, Dermody ran for the

in the 33rd Legislative District. His district is located in northeastern

, including Brackenridge, Cheswick, East Deer,

Fawn Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the reindee ...

, Frazer, Harmar,

Harrison Harrison may refer to: People * Harrison (name) * Harrison family of Virginia, United States Places In Australia: * Harrison, Australian Capital Territory, suburb in the Canberra district of Gungahlin In Canada: * Inukjuak, Quebec, or " ...

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th ...

, Oakmont, part of

Plum A plum is a fruit of some species in ''Prunus'' subg. ''Prunus'.'' Dried plums are called prunes. History Plums may have been one of the first fruits domesticated by humans. Three of the most abundantly cultivated species are not found ...

, Springdale,

Tarentum Tarentum may refer to: * Taranto, Apulia, Italy, on the site of the ancient Roman city of Tarentum (formerly the Greek colony of Taras) **See also History of Taranto * Tarentum (Campus Martius), also Terentum, an area in or on the edge of the Camp ...

, and West Deer. In the Democratic primary, he faced Arlene S. Loeffler, the president of the Riverview School Board. He won with 2,870 votes, or 53%, against Loeffler's 2,524 votes, or 47%. In the general election, Dermody faced one-term

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

incumbent Ted V. Kondrich. The criminal justice system, education, and the environment were regarded as the top issues of the campaign. Dermody ultimately defeated Kondrich, receiving 9,082 votes to Kondrich's 8,430. He has been re-elected every two years since. Dermody was chairman of the Subcommittee on Courts in the Judiciary Committee from 1991 to 2006, and served on the Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing from 1991 to 2010, including 14 years as commission chairman. In 1994, he was selected by House leaders to lead the investigation into charges against Supreme Court Justice Rolf Larsen, serving as a key

House manager An impeachment manager is a legislator appointed to serve as a prosecutor in an impeachment trial. They are also often called "House managers" or "House impeachment manager" when appointed from a legislative chamber that is called a "House of Repr ...

(prosecutor) in the

impeachment trial An impeachment trial is a trial that functions as a component of an impeachment. Several governments utilize impeachment trials as a part of their processes for impeachment, but differ as to when in the impeachment process trials take place and how ...

that led to Larsen's eventual removal. He served as chairman of the Allegheny County's House Democratic delegation (1994–2006) and as caucus secretary (2006–2008). In 2009, he was elected Majority Whip, the second-highest position for his party in the House. In late 2010, he was elected Democratic floor leader on November 17, 2010, after incumbent

Todd Eachus Todd A. Eachus (born September 26, 1962) is an American politician who served as a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. He represented the 116th District (Luzerne County) from 1997 until 2010. Eachus represented most of lower Luz ...

was defeated in his bid for re-election. Dermody was defeated for reelection in

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

by Carrie DelRosso.

Personal life

Dermody resides in Oakmont with his wife, Debra (née Hewetson) Dermody, who was his classmate in law school. They have two children, Frank and Cara.

References

External links

Pennsylvania House of Representatives - Frank Dermody
official PA House website *
Pennsylvania House Democratic Caucus - Rep. Frank Dermody
official Party website {{DEFAULTSORT:Dermody, Frank 1951 births 2012 United States presidential electors 21st-century American politicians Columbia Lions football players Indiana University alumni Living people Democratic Party members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives People from Allegheny County, Pennsylvania Politicians from Scranton, Pennsylvania