About Mark Rozzi
Mark Rozzi was born in Temple, PA to Lucio and Grazia Rozzi; Italian immigrant parents who came to America in 1956 in search of the American Dream. Mark's parents raised their children on family values and worked endless hours in order to provide for their family. That hard work has been instilled deep down in Mark and has taught him that nothing worth doing is going to be easy and success is no accident, it does always come down to hard work. Mark has two older sisters, Daniela and Sandra and a younger brother Paul.
Mark's father and his brother eventually saved enough money to start Rozzi Brothers Window and Door Company in 1969, in Reading, which later Mark would take over as President and Owner when his father died in 2001 from a glioblastoma brain tumor. His father was diagnosed with the brain tumor in mid-May of 2001 and died only one month later on June 25th, 2001. It inspired Mark after elected in 2012 to introduce the CARE Act, Compassionate Autonomous Right for the End of Life, for people with a terminal illness disease to, under certain conditions, request a prescription for medicine that would end their life in a humane and dignified manner.
Mark attended Holy Guardian Angels parochial school from 1st to 8th grade, Central Catholic High School for 9th grade then transferred and graduated from Muhlenberg High School in 1989 where he was a member of the Political Science Club and Model UN amongst other clubs. Mark also was a three-sport athlete being recognized as an All-County recipient in both Baseball and Football.
Mark, simultaneously, worked and went to college at Kutztown University and went on to receive a bachelor's degree in Political Science with the majority of his studies concentrating in pre-law and constitutional law. Mark's favorite political science professor at Kutztown University was Dr. Richard Close. Mark fondly remembers Dr. Close as a caring, well read, great orator, and a strong influence on his studies.
Mark is an avid golfer, his favorite course being Torrey Pines, and also enjoys numerous outdoor activities including the beach, birding, and especially hiking. In 2009 he summited Longs Peak (14,259ft) located within Rocky Mountain National Park.
Mark has always prided himself in overcoming overwhelming obstacles.
Mark inspiration to run for office came in 2009 when one of his childhood friends committed suicide. He too was sexually abused by the same catholic priest that had abused Mark in 1984 and 1985 at Holy Guardian Angels while Mark was in 8th grade. From that moment on nothing would be the same. Mark decided to go public with his abuse in 2010 and as a result was contacted by hundreds of victims from his school and many others from across the state. After looking into laws that could help victims heal and find the truth about the systematic coverup within the church and only to realize that not that many legislators were really interested in finding the truth, he decided to run for office in 2012 and take this issue head on and shine a light on this subject that had been previously taboo to talk about.
After winning the three-way democratic primary with almost 70% of the vote he went on to win the general election with 70.3% of the vote in a district that was only supposed to perform at 57%. He gathered support not only from democrats and independents but republicans as well for his passionate fight against childhood sexual abuse and his free-thinking approach to policy. For Mark, it always came down to what was best for his district regardless of whether it was a democrat ideal or republican ideal. He just wanted to serve his constituents like no other politician could ever do, open and honest.
In 2019, Mark had sweeping legislation signed into law by Governor Wolf that would finally put child victims on the same playing field as the perpetrators. His legislation eliminated the criminal statute of limitations on childhood sexual abuse, it increased the civil statute of limitations from age 30 to 55. The bill also extended the criminal and civil statutes for college age children aged 18-24, criminally gave them to age 30 and civilly gave them 20 years from the date of the abuse. The bill also provided counseling services for victims of sexual assault via the Crime Victims Compensation Fund. Mark is still working to pass the 2-year window which would give older victims their two years back to sue their perpetrators or the institution that protected that predator.
Mark's other areas of interest are protecting seniors, promoting small business by reducing the corporate net income tax, youth homelessness, which Berks County has about 3500 homeless youths and making Higher Education more affordable. Mark currently has four bills to build up the PASHHE system and our teacher pipeline with a specific bill that creates a 50-million-dollar grant for students studying to become teachers. Every year a teacher receives the $8,000 grant, they must teach in PA for that entire year. Mark understands the value of a good education. His motto since being in office is, we must educate and protect each child, for that child to be truly successful. If we give those children the proper tools necessary to be successful, then and only then will PA see the greatest return on investment and see our greatest resource flourish, our children.
Mark's father and his brother eventually saved enough money to start Rozzi Brothers Window and Door Company in 1969, in Reading, which later Mark would take over as President and Owner when his father died in 2001 from a glioblastoma brain tumor. His father was diagnosed with the brain tumor in mid-May of 2001 and died only one month later on June 25th, 2001. It inspired Mark after elected in 2012 to introduce the CARE Act, Compassionate Autonomous Right for the End of Life, for people with a terminal illness disease to, under certain conditions, request a prescription for medicine that would end their life in a humane and dignified manner.
Mark attended Holy Guardian Angels parochial school from 1st to 8th grade, Central Catholic High School for 9th grade then transferred and graduated from Muhlenberg High School in 1989 where he was a member of the Political Science Club and Model UN amongst other clubs. Mark also was a three-sport athlete being recognized as an All-County recipient in both Baseball and Football.
Mark, simultaneously, worked and went to college at Kutztown University and went on to receive a bachelor's degree in Political Science with the majority of his studies concentrating in pre-law and constitutional law. Mark's favorite political science professor at Kutztown University was Dr. Richard Close. Mark fondly remembers Dr. Close as a caring, well read, great orator, and a strong influence on his studies.
Mark is an avid golfer, his favorite course being Torrey Pines, and also enjoys numerous outdoor activities including the beach, birding, and especially hiking. In 2009 he summited Longs Peak (14,259ft) located within Rocky Mountain National Park.
Mark has always prided himself in overcoming overwhelming obstacles.
Mark inspiration to run for office came in 2009 when one of his childhood friends committed suicide. He too was sexually abused by the same catholic priest that had abused Mark in 1984 and 1985 at Holy Guardian Angels while Mark was in 8th grade. From that moment on nothing would be the same. Mark decided to go public with his abuse in 2010 and as a result was contacted by hundreds of victims from his school and many others from across the state. After looking into laws that could help victims heal and find the truth about the systematic coverup within the church and only to realize that not that many legislators were really interested in finding the truth, he decided to run for office in 2012 and take this issue head on and shine a light on this subject that had been previously taboo to talk about.
After winning the three-way democratic primary with almost 70% of the vote he went on to win the general election with 70.3% of the vote in a district that was only supposed to perform at 57%. He gathered support not only from democrats and independents but republicans as well for his passionate fight against childhood sexual abuse and his free-thinking approach to policy. For Mark, it always came down to what was best for his district regardless of whether it was a democrat ideal or republican ideal. He just wanted to serve his constituents like no other politician could ever do, open and honest.
In 2019, Mark had sweeping legislation signed into law by Governor Wolf that would finally put child victims on the same playing field as the perpetrators. His legislation eliminated the criminal statute of limitations on childhood sexual abuse, it increased the civil statute of limitations from age 30 to 55. The bill also extended the criminal and civil statutes for college age children aged 18-24, criminally gave them to age 30 and civilly gave them 20 years from the date of the abuse. The bill also provided counseling services for victims of sexual assault via the Crime Victims Compensation Fund. Mark is still working to pass the 2-year window which would give older victims their two years back to sue their perpetrators or the institution that protected that predator.
Mark's other areas of interest are protecting seniors, promoting small business by reducing the corporate net income tax, youth homelessness, which Berks County has about 3500 homeless youths and making Higher Education more affordable. Mark currently has four bills to build up the PASHHE system and our teacher pipeline with a specific bill that creates a 50-million-dollar grant for students studying to become teachers. Every year a teacher receives the $8,000 grant, they must teach in PA for that entire year. Mark understands the value of a good education. His motto since being in office is, we must educate and protect each child, for that child to be truly successful. If we give those children the proper tools necessary to be successful, then and only then will PA see the greatest return on investment and see our greatest resource flourish, our children.
