Emilymarie Rominiecki, retired director of public information for the Philadelphia Office of Housing and Community Development, has died at 78
A lifelong Philadelphian, she spent two decades representing city housing officials and looking out for neighborhoods and residents.
Emilymarie Rominiecki, 78, formerly of Philadelphia, retired director of public information for the city’s Office of Housing and Community Development, writer, editor, and communications consultant, died Sunday, April 23, of congestive heart failure at Christ’s Home retirement community in Warminster.
Friendly, engaging, and exuberant, Mrs. Rominiecki earned a bachelor’s degree in communications at Temple University in the mid-1960s and spent 20 years sharing information, advancing education, and speaking on behalf of the Philadelphia Office of Housing and Community Development.
From 1989 to 2009, during the terms of three mayors and countless policy changes, Mrs. Rominiecki wrote and edited office news releases, published educational material for homeowners, and was quoted often in The Inquirer and elsewhere as an expert on city housing issues.
“She was a great editor and writer, and a fine and fun colleague,” a friend said in an online tribute. “Always conscientious and caring.” Another called her “a consummate professional” and “dedicated public servant.”
Mrs. Rominiecki synthesized large budget decisions into specific policy proposals and oversaw public relations during sometimes controversial housing developments.
She paid attention to the needs of neighborhoods and residents as well as developers, colleagues said, and spoke for the office when she told the Daily News in 1995 that novel ideas for new houses “showed that somebody thought about the city, and problems like on-street parking, and cars being vandalized.”
She wrote tips on home energy conservation and news on federal funding and infrastructure improvements. She often went by Romin as a last name in public to shorten her byline and told the Daily News in 1991: “As a writer, I feel good when people have applied for a service we publicized. … What’s sad is that there just isn’t enough money to go around.”
She wrote a manual for young people leaving foster care to live independently called Learning to Live on Your Own. Earlier, she worked as an advertising copywriter at Sears, news editor at the Lutheran magazine (now the Living Lutheran), and as a freelance consultant.
“She got along with everybody,” said her husband, Richard Rominiecki. “She was an extrovert and had many friends.”
One friend called her a “wonderful spirit,” and another said: “She was a courageous, intelligent woman, and I will miss her dearly.”
Emilymarie Elizabeth Trotter was born in Philadelphia on Jan. 25, 1945. She graduated from Little Flower Catholic High School for Girls and Temple, and met her future husband when they both worked at Sears on Roosevelt Boulevard.
She threw paper clips at him in the office to get his attention, and they married in 1968. He invited her to a Chinese restaurant on Chestnut Street for their first date in 1966, and she confessed years later that she had never had Chinese food before. She died on the 57th anniversary of that date.
They adopted son Michael, had daughter Amy, and lived briefly in Kensington, then Germantown for 30 years, and Warwick, Chester County, for the last decade.
She was a huge Elvis Presley fan, always had cats and dogs, and liked to garden and read. She worked on crossword puzzles, played board games, and challenged her husband and daughter in Scrabble a few weeks ago.
She wrote down nine idioms to live by that included laughing long and hard every day, and editing your work twice. She listened to music and kept in touch with childhood friends.
Her husband wears her wedding ring as well as his these days and said: “I love her twice as much. She was the best thing that ever happened to me.”
In addition to her husband and children, Mrs. Rominiecki is survived by three grandchildren, three great-grandchildren, four brothers, two sisters, and other relatives.
A celebration of her life was Saturday, May 20.
Donations in her name may be made to Little Flower Catholic High School for Girls, Sister Joan M. Ames, IHM, Director of Advancement, 1000 W. Lycoming St. Philadelphia, Pa. 19140.