Geoffrey A. Mock, engaging lobbyist and director of state government relations at Lehigh University, has died at 35

Geoffrey A. Mock, 35, of Collegeville, Montgomery County, director of state government relations at Lehigh University, former regional representative for U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, onetime legislative director for State Sen. Christine Tartaglione, longtime lobbyist, track sprinter and football standout at Kutztown University and Timber Creek High School, mentor, and volunteer, died Thursday, July 17, at his home. The cause of his death has not been determined.

Mr. Mock was an expert in public policy, advocacy, and the legislative process. After working four years in federal and state government jobs, he joined Lehigh’s office of Government Relations in 2021 and lobbied state legislators for additional funding for underserved students and other university priorities.

He was named a “rising star” in 2023 and one of the top Forty Under 40 by City & State Pennsylvania magazine. In 2024, he was on the state policy committee for Life Sciences Pa. and the keynote speaker at the Delaware Valley Student Affairs Conference and Lenfest Scholars Community Weekend.

“I realized that, although I can be passionate from behind the legislative desk, there’s just so much more outreach you can have in an advocacy role,” he told City & State. “I always realize many don’t have the kind of privilege I grew up with — an athletic scholarship, a supportive family, the ability to go to college. Real change comes from advocacy.”

Before Lehigh, Mr. Mock spent nearly two years as director of government affairs for the Long Island Board of Realtors in New York. In government, he lobbied for workers’ rights and a higher state minimum wage with Tartaglione in Harrisburg from 2018 to 2020, and engaged with constituents for Casey from 2016 to 2018.

He was gregarious, energetic, and good with people, everyone said. “When I was a kid, I talked a lot,” he told City & State. “Like, a lot. A lot.”

In a tribute, Pennsylvania House Speaker Joanna McClinton said Mr. Mock made everyone “feel like family.” His wife, Danica, said: “He was the closest thing to perfect that a man could be. … He made it his mission to leave people better than he found them.”

He earned a bachelor’s degree in political science at Kutztown in 2012 and law degree at Widener University Delaware Law School in 2016. He had plans to teach a lobbyist class at Lehigh.

He ran sprints and relays at the Penn Relays and other championship meets for the Kutztown track team, and played cornerback for two seasons on the football team. He volunteered as a sprint coach at Ursinus College, and track team officials said in a tribute he “supported and inspired the student-athletes of the Bears track and field program in ways far beyond athletic instruction.”

His wife said: “He liked mentoring young athletes and was everyone’s No. 1 fan.”

Geoffrey Alan Mock was born May 29, 1990, in Voorhees. He grew up in Sicklerville and played football and ran track at Timber Creek.

A headline in The Inquirer on Sept. 9, 2006, said: Mock’s 3 TDs lift Timber Creek past Cherry Hill West. In 2007, he finished second in the 55-meter dash at the Group 3 state indoor track championships, and coaches in the South Jersey Olympic Conference Patriot Division voted him first team in the 100-meter dash.

He met Danica Coronacion through her family, and they married in 2021 at Leonard’s Palazzo in Great Neck, N.Y. They had a son, Chancellor, and a daughter, Amia, and lived in East Brunswick, N.J., before moving to Collegeville.

Mr. Mock was inspired to social activism by his parents, Anita and Gregory, and active at church. He managed dyslexia and, in a profile on the Kutztown football website, said his favorite movie was Rush Hour, favorite food was chicken alfredo, favorite book was the Bible, and favorite hobbies were sports and reading.

What did he value most in others? His answer was honesty.

He read DC Comics and wore luxury watches. He liked to dance and watch college football games.

While his favorite NFL team was the Dallas Cowboys, his wife said, he wanted his son to be an Eagles fan. “He was the fun one,” she said. “He loved his family. He was the best dad.”

In addition to his wife, children, and parents, Mr. Mock is survived by a sister, a brother, and other relatives.

A celebration of his life was held earlier.

Donations in his name may be made to the Team Hines 42 Foundation, Box 252, Sicklerville, N.J. 08081. His family said: “The foundation reflects Geoffrey’s passion for youth development, sports, and community wellness. They are causes he cared about deeply throughout his life.”