John R. Slifko ’70

One of our deeply devoted public servants, John Slifko, vice president of the Reading, Pa., city council, fell ill during a council meeting Jan. 7, 2019, and died of cardiac complications four days later.

Always the most kind and caring of people, he was one of our founding members at Stevenson Hall in 1968. His mind was always orderly and focused; he wrote his economics thesis on the “Limited Capital Funds Market in Labor-Managed Economies.”

These traits would recur throughout his life and serve him well. Following Princeton, he helped create and operated a camp for disadvantaged children founded in honor of his late brother Eric. He then earned a law degree at Vanderbilt Law School. In the 1980s John moved to Reading and became deeply involved in the community. Beginning in local real estate and development, he served 27 years as legal adviser to the city charter board and three years on the Clean City Coordinating Committee. Meanwhile, for 25 years he volunteered as a Johnny Appleseed on the city shade tree commission, and he remained a determined advocate for children and the poor.

He is survived by his companion Sandra Seifert and his “adopted son” Wesley Luchetta, who mourn his passing in concert with us and with many thousands of his friends and constituents in Reading. One week following his death, they dedicated the city’s annual Fire and Ice Fest to him.