Anthony (“Tony”) Filippello, 99, of Annapolis, MD passed away peacefully in his sleep on September 28, 2025, in his apartment at Brightview Annapolis. He was born on August 1, 1926, in Brooklyn, New York. He had recently enjoyed his 99th birthday party with his extended family during which he had recounted experiences during his long, happy and productive life.

Tony’s parents, Egidio and Yolanda Filippello, raised him in Brooklyn, NY. His father was a gourmet chef and his mother a midwife. Although the Great Depression made life challenging, the family’s dedication to hard work and thrift got them through. One of Tony’s fondest memories was taking the train to the Bedford Springs Hotel in Pennsylvania where his father was the head chef. “I was astonished that the country roads did not have streetlights!”

Tony was a dedicated student from his early years. He attended the challenging Straubenmuller Textile High School and was named the outstanding mathematics graduate. “One of the biggest shocks of my life was when I came home participating in a Sunday neighborhood football game to see my parents sobbing by the radio in the kitchen. They had just learned that Pearl Harbor had been attacked and were afraid for my safety.” He entered the U.S. Army in January 1945 and commanded a Sherman tank. Tony was sent to the Philippines, arriving just as hostilities ceased. He remained there for 16 months helping with humanitarian projects and reconstruction. He received the Philippine Independence Ribbon, the Army Occupation Medal, the Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal, the Good Conduct Medal and the World War II Victory Medal.

After being discharged from the Army, Tony enrolled in Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute; he graduated in 1952 with his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and went to work for Westinghouse in Philadelphia, PA, testing, refining and manufacturing jet engines. Later he moved to Dallas, TX with Westinghouse. In 1955 he moved to the Indianapolis, IN, area where he worked for Allison Division of General Motors on the turboprop engines for the C-130 cargo plane. (Tony worked on the manuals for maintaining these complex powerplants, all of which had to be done precisely. This mindset was a challenge to his children as he often gave out incredibly detailed instructions for otherwise simple tasks.) In 1961 he moved to Richmond, where he worked for Avco on communications equipment, torpedoes and fuses for ordnance. While in Richmond he was active in Junior Achievement and the Boy Scouts of America. He remained with Avco in Richmond until 1974 when he moved to the Avco factory in Wilmington, MA to supervise the manufacture of the fuses for the Pershing missile; while there he lived in Marblehead and later Andover, MA. Tony’s last work-related move was in 1984 when he moved to Los Angeles, CA to work for Hughes Aerospace supervising the manufacture of fuses for the Phoenix missile. He retired from Hughes Aerospace in 1991.

Tony had the “construction bug,” he built or extensively renovated four homes in his “spare time”. The first was in Plainfield, IN, a suburb of Indianapolis, where in 1958 he contracted the construction of a modern split-level home for his young family. Five years later in Richmond he supervised the demolition of an abandoned schoolhouse and the construction of a colonial home in its place. In 1975 he renovated and expanded a home in Andover, MA. Finally, in 1992 he built a modern home in the hills of Yorba Linda, CA. Perhaps as a result, his children have never had the desire to relieve the mud, sawdust and noise that accompany new home construction!

Tony had an active retirement serving as a docent at the Los Angeles Pacific Opera Project, the Orange County Science Museum, Richard Nixon Presidential Library, the Discovery Science Center and the Bowers Museum. while aggressively improving and gardening his home and surrounding land. He remained in Yorba Linda, a suburb of Los Angeles, until 2019 when he moved to Annapolis to be closer to his sons.

Tony’s future wife, Miss Rosemary Gloria, lived only six blocks away from his boyhood home. He met her at a CYO dance and later ran into her at the dentist office where she worked. They married on November 18, 1950. (She passed away on November 4, 2023.) Tony and Rosemary are survived by their three sons, Mark Anthony (born in 1953 and married to Buffy), Michael Edmund (born in 1956 and married to Mala) and Edgar Wayne (born in 1960 and married to Lisa); five grandchildren, Rose, Connie, Tiffany, Jaclyn and Davis and three great-grandchildren, Charlotte, Ella and Heidi. (A fourth great-grandchild is expected in January 2026.)

Although Tony was an exacting engineer and results-oriented executive, he was also universally known as a kind, caring, considerate, empathetic person. It was impossible not to like and feel comfortable with him. He always thought of something nice to say to people. He was devoted to his family and loved and respected by all.

In his autumn years Tony loved to pose questions to “Alexa,” the personal AI assistant. “She is so smart and so nice. How did somebody every think to invest this thing?” He got a special kick out of occasionally “stumping” the Alexa AI device.

Tony was, in the fullest sense of the word, a member of “The Greatest Generation”. He was born into the struggles of the Great Depression. Bolstered by his loving family and a determined work ethic, he excelled in school and served in the military to help win World War II. Then, assisted by the G.I. Bill, he “rose above his station” to become a mechanical engineer. He used that education to create jet airplanes and other technologies to advanced our civilization and defended our freedoms. Along the way he and his wife were built a strong family that built on Tony’s and Rosemary’s business and civic example. Although he grew up in New York City, they made contributions in the Philippines, Pennsylvania, Texas, Indiana, Massachusetts, California and Maryland. America, and the world, is a better place thanks to Anthony Filippello. We celebrate his productive, caring, full life.  

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