Frank V. Ragazzo feels truly blessed.
Born and raised in the Chambersburg section of Trenton, Ragazzo married the girl around the corner, Santina Dileo, 45 years ago. After graduating from The College of New Jersey (then Trenton State College) with a degree in mathematics, he was hired as a math teacher in Hamilton, moved to the township and settled in.
Since then, he has worked in real estate, municipal and county government and even learned how to be a mime. Most recently, he was re-elected as commissioner of the New Jersey Lottery Commission, a board he has served on since 2010.
All the while, he has been able to stay in Hamilton, his adopted hometown and the place where he raised his two children. Son Frank is a former teacher at Steinert High School and now principal at Nottingham High. Daughter Mary is a cognitive behavioral psychotherapist in New York City.
“The best satisfaction, the happiest years I have had were as a teacher,” Ragazzo said. “I still see the ‘kids’ around—they are in their 50s now. I work with some of them. My son taught some of their kids. It goes full circle.”
Ragazzo began selling real estate 40 years ago, including the past nine years as a real estate broker/agent with Re/Max Tri-County. On his team of nine people is his daughter-in-law Erin Ragazzo.
“Erin started with me in January,” Ragazzo said. “She has the younger crowd, I have my own clients. It is the perfect arrangement.”
Son Frank and Erin and have three school-aged children. Daughter Mary is married to Brian Reilly and lives in Cranford with their two daughters.
Ragazzo also loved the 22 years he was the executive director for the Mercer County Parks Commission. Before retiring in 2003, he oversaw Mercer County Park open its marina in 1985, the 1994 opening of Waterfront Park in Trenton, the openings of Howell Living History Farm, Belle Mountain Ski (which has since closed) and Sovereign Bank Arena (now the Sun National Bank Center).
“It was the best job you could have,” Ragazzo said. “It was never boring.”
Upon retirement, Ragazzo decided to do something completely different. He took a class to learn how to be a mime. At the time, he and Santina owned a co-op in Greenwich Village between Union Square and Washington Square. The class was offered around the corner.
“It was really interesting,” he said. “There was also this theater group I participated in on 8th Street.”
Their pied-a-terre was purchased while their daughter, Mary, was a student at Fordham University. When she moved to Brooklyn, they took it over.
“I love the energy in New York City,” Ragazzo said. “There is always something to do. Back then, I participated in the New York Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. I helped with the balloons. It is a mammoth production—it takes 10,000 people.”
Later, Ragazzo served as Hamilton Township’s director of public works from 2011-2013.
It was around that time Ragazzo wound up on the lottery commission. From 2001 to 2009, Ragazzo was appointed as a Commissioner of the New Jersey Legalized Games of Chance Control Commission. In 2009, after being nominated by then-state Sen. Bill Baroni, a Hamilton resident, and approved by the state senate, he was appointed by Gov. Jon Corzine as a Commissioner of the New Jersey Lottery Commission. He served a three year term as chairman from 2010 to 2013, then was elected vice chairman from 2013-2015. In 2015, he was again elected chairman of the New Jersey Lottery Commission, and was re-elected to this position this June.
Lottery appointments take place by a government bipartisan committee, and there are an equal number of Republican and Democratic seats on the commission. It is a non-paying job, even though commission members must help manage $3.2 billion dollars in gross sales, of which close to a billion are returned to the state of New Jersey to supplement its budget.
“They have $250 million a month in lottery sales,” Ragazzo said. “As a former math teacher, the numbers boggle my mind. The staff at the state office is the most efficient and professional staff. I have been impressed with them since day one I started at the business. They run it well.”
At the committee’s monthly meetings, they receive an agenda and reports about what each game did. The committee approves all of the new lottery games, and sees sample tickets. The committee doesn’t hire or fire employees, that is under the treasury department. Over 40 years ago the senate, made the committee autonomous in an effort to detach it from anyone who benefits.
Ragazzo is quick to point out “I have nothing to do with the day to day operations. I wish I could take credit for it.”
Most of the money from the lottery tickets goes to lottery winners, such as Pearl Mae Smith of Trenton who in May 2016 won the $429.6 million in the Powerball lottery using numbers that came to her in a dream.
“She only played two tickets,” Ragazzo said, one each for the May 4 and May 7 drawings.
But educational and institutional organizations also receive close to a billion dollars every year. In 2015-16, $4 million went to the Marie Katzenbach School for the Deaf in Ewing, $57 million for non-public school aid, $30 million for school construction renovations, $222 million for tuition aid grants, $257 million for senior public institutions and $47.6 million for veterans.
“I am very proud to be on the commission,” Ragazzo said. “There are many benefits New Jersey residents receive because of this revenue…It is nice to listen to how the income is coming in and going out.”
Hamilton’s Frank V. Ragazzo,
