The digital panel on the “Welcome to Johnston” sign located in front of Town Hall at the intersection of Hartford and Atwood avenues reads: “Our thoughts and prayers are with the Perrotta family!”
That’s because Johnston, as Mayor Joseph Polisena said Tuesday afternoon, “has lost a very good mayor and a very good man.”
Polisena was speaking about Louis A. Perrotta Sr., who served two terms as Johnston’s mayor from 1995 to 1998 and before that was an eight-term Town Council member from 1987 to 1995 – the last two of which he served as council president.
Perrotta passed away Saturday at his home in Narragansett. He was 82.
“A lot of people loved Lou,” said Arnie Vecchione, Johnston’s director of public works and a friend of Perrotta for many years. “He was simply a good, good man.”
Polisena added: “Lou was a very good mayor and very good man. He was very honest and very dedicated to the citizens of Johnston.”
Perrotta, as Polisena also remembered, “took over when the town when there was a huge deficit, yet he righted the ship. He was a measured and kind man who always did things with the taxpayers in mind. With Lou, it wasn’t political, it was about moving the town forward.”
Which Perrotta did, Polisena said, “knowing he had to make some tough decisions.”
“Lou wasn’t afraid to make tough decisions that were always in the best interest of the citizens,” Polisena said.
Perrotta was also a well-respected “family and businessman” Polisena said, noting that when people needed some sort of printing job – tickets, programs – they went to see him at Louis Press, which was first located on Killingly Street before moving into larger quarters on Greenville Avenue.
Perrotta was a 1955 graduate of La Salle Academy and later Bryant College. He served in the U.S. Air Force Reserve and was steeped in community service, highlighted by his extraordinary 53-year membership with the Johnston Lions Club.
Perrotta was also a lector at Our Lady of Grace Church in Johnston and a popular member of the Italo-American Club of Rhode Island in Providence. He enjoyed reading, golf and tennis as well as photography and his favorite subjects – his cherished children, grandchildren and various places where he and his wonderful wife, Maria (Mainelli) Perrotta, traveled.
“Lou and Maria were married for 57 years,” Polisena said. “He was a good guy and good mayor … a fine family man who had five very respectful sons. And on behalf of the citizens of Johnston, my sympathy goes out to Lou and his family. He will be missed by everyone in the town he served so extremely well for many, many years.”
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