Farewell to a fighter

By Tom Waring
Times Staff Writer

Gov. Ed Rendell was honored to be asked to speak at Friday’s funeral Mass for Frances Egan.
In September 1996, Rendell, then Philadelphia’s mayor, hired Egan to serve as commissioner of the Department of Licenses and Inspections, which he said was suffering from a "crisis of integrity."
Egan restored L&I’s credibility, according to Rendell, and made it a business-friendly agency.
Rendell said Egan was a nice, bright, talented individual who did her job — whether it was at L&I, SEPTA or as a state legislator — with grace, class and integrity.
"Pennsylvania has truly lost one of its finest daughters," he said.
Egan died Christmas Eve at her home in Whitemarsh after a long fight against bone-marrow cancer. She was just 51.
A Wissinoming native, she was a 1972 graduate of St. Hubert High School and graduated from Temple University with a political science degree. She was an accounting supervisor at JCPenney when she decided that public service was her calling. She was only 25 when she was elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.
The year was 1980, and the incumbent was Democrat Henry Giammarco, who was coming off a primary loss for City Council the year before. His Democratic rivals succeeded in nominating Mike McAllister for the 173rd district seat.
However, Republican Fran Weston beat McAllister in the fall in the heavily Democratic district. She easily won re-election every two years until declining to run again in 1990.
In office, she focused on issues such as education, auto insurance reform and mental retardation and was a strong supporter of law enforcement and pro-life causes. While in the House, she served as Republican leader of the 41st Ward.
She did suffer one defeat at the polls. In 1983, she took just 37 percent of the vote in a loss to Democrat Joe Vignola in the race for city controller. She’s the only woman ever to be nominated for controller by either party.
That year, she ran in a special election on a ticket led my GOP mayoral nominee John Egan. The two would later marry.
By 1990, she left the Democrat-controlled state House because she thought she needed a leadership position to be truly effective. Also, she wanted to spend more time with daughters Bridget and Kaitlyn, children from her marriage to Ed Weston.
In public life, she and John Egan formed a short-lived political consulting firm. She also worked as a fund-raiser for the Special Olympics for a year.
In late 1992, Rendell — who knew her since he was district attorney — named her a deputy managing director; she specialized in environmental and economic development issues.
During his second term as mayor, Rendell selected her as the first woman to head L&I.
In 1999, she became SEPTA’s assistant general manager for public and governmental affairs.
By 2001, she learned she had bone cancer. She later suffered a stroke.
The Rev. Dennis O’Donnell celebrated the funeral Mass on Friday at St. Bartholomew Roman Catholic Church, the church where Frances Peteraf was baptized in 1954.
O’Donnell was scheduled to celebrate Christmas Mass at Egan’s home, but he was told to come on Christmas Eve because she was not doing well. She died before he arrived, but the Mass went on as planned. The priest said it was touching when her family and friends sung Silent Night, especially the words "sleep in heavenly peace."
John Egan told O’Donnell that God had given his wife to him, and that he was giving her to God.
At the funeral Mass, O’Donnell asked mourners to sum up Egan in a few words. The words included kind, courageous, gentle, sincere, valiant, radiant and compassionate.
"No one said director of L&I. No one said state representative," the priest said in his homily. "In heaven, there are no titles. All that there are, are titles of daughter, mother, loving wife, friend, sister. That’s who Fran is to you and God."
Pennsylvania House Speaker John Perzel also spoke at the Mass. He recalls Egan being part of what former Republican City Committee boss Donald Jamieson called the "Kiddy Patrol" in the 1980s. Egan, Perzel and Reps. Dennis O’Brien, George Kenney, Chris Wogan and John Taylor were all in their late 20s to mid-30s.
Perzel described Egan as hard working, honest, fair and thoughtful and a community leader who loved Philadelphia. She was a "public servant extraordinaire."
"Fran Weston Egan was a good woman," he said. "Rest in peace, my friend."
Ronald Selzer, a lifelong friend of John Egan’s who also became close with Fran, delivered the eulogy. He said mourners paid their respects not because of her accomplishments, but because of the gentle woman behind the accomplishments.
Selzer recalled a 1999 trip he took with his wife and the Egans to Italy. The foursome went out to dinner in a noisy, crowded restaurant where the cheapest entrée was $95. While Selzer was looking for a way to leave, Fran Egan asked if the couples could say a prayer of thanksgiving. That’s the kind of friend she was, he said.
"It was one of the best meals we ever had in our life," he recalled.
Selzer asked everyone in church to bow their heads, close their eyes, hold the hand of the person next to them and think of their time with Fran.
The church was filled with family, friends, former colleagues and others.
Taylor said Egan mentored him during his campaign in 1984 on how to win as a Republican in a Democratic district. He later sought her counsel when the two served together. He recalls her as a straightforward legislator who stayed in close contact with her constituents.
"She had a unique sense of right and wrong," he said.
Rep. Mark Cohen remembers her for being popular among constituents, an excellent campaigner and a fighter for health issues.
"She brought a lot of energy to the job of state legislator," he said.
Bob Solvibile was first deputy commissioner under Egan at L&I. Today, he’s the acting commissioner.
Solvibile recalls accompanying Egan to an off-campus college housing development that was unsafe. Egan scolded the landlord in the morning, and the complex was brought up to code by the afternoon.
At L&I, she implemented special training and taught the employees to work as a team, not as individuals.
"She was a wonderful person to work for," Solvibile said. "She brought new life to the department by making people work together. Her influence is still felt. That’s the Fran Egan I know."
Sister Mary Scullion, the Oxford Circle native who heads Project H.O.M.E., said Egan was a dedicated volunteer to the group, which provides education and affordable housing, among other things.
Egan volunteered on Thanksgiving and Christmas charity drives and served on the board of trustees.
"She was a doer," Sister Scullion said.
Fran Egan is survived by her husband, two children, three stepchildren, two grandchildren, her mother and nine brothers and sisters. ••
Contributions in Fran Egan’s name can be made to Project H.O.M.E., 1515 Fairmount Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19130.
Reporter Tom Waring can be reached at 215-354-3034 or twaring@phillynews.com