In Loving Memory of Donald Anthony Camplese

Donald Anthony Camplese of Bloomsburg, PA and Marco Island, FL passed peacefully on April 16, 2022. He was born on March 29, 1934 to Anthony Camplese and Madeline (Fratis) Camplese in Wheeling, West Virginia. He embodied the American dream as a first generation American, his father immigrating to the United States from Italy and his mother immigrating from Portugal in the early 1900s. 

He was a graduate of Central Catholic High School in Wheeling and a graduate of West Liberty College with a degree in Special Education. He received a master’s degree of Education and a Doctor of Education from West Virginia University. He served his country during the Korean War, stationed in Germany and playing basketball for the United States Army from 1957 to 1959. 

He married the love of his life, Kay Rosencrance, on May 23, 1970, at Rooke Chapel at Bucknell University. He was a professor at Bucknell University at the time and they later settled in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania where he was a professor at Bloomsburg University and a prominent real estate developer for college and residential housing. He retired as Professor Emeritus in 1992 from Bloomsburg University and spent the rest of his career focusing on real estate development. 

He was a tremendous mentor and inspiration to his students, and to countless friends and family members. He was a role model as the first college graduate in his family and encouraged many in their educational and professional endeavors. But above all else, he was a wonderful husband, father, and grandfather. He had unconditional love for family and friends, a generous spirit, a wonderful sense of humor, and was the center of attention on every dance floor. 

He was an accomplished athlete in baseball, basketball, tennis, racquetball, and golf and was a member of Hideaway Beach Club in Marco Island, Florida and Frosty Valley Country Club in Danville, Pennsylvania. Never giving up after his cancer diagnosis and through an 11-year battle with the disease, he hit a hole in one using only one arm after reteaching himself the game with limited mobility. For those who knew Don closely, he was also a man of faith and relied on that strength through his battle with cancer. 

He was preceded in death by his parents, his sisters Gloria Fischer and Geri Tyler, and his brother Arthur Camplese.

Surviving are his wife, Kay, a son Cole Camplese and his wife Kristin of Scituate, Massachusetts, a daughter Kitt Camplese and her husband Steven Sheldon of Easton, Pennsylvania, a son Donn Trenton of Williamsport, Pennsylvania, a son Slade Camplese of Dunedin, Florida, and his grandchildren: 

Madeline Camplese, Max Camplese, Mia Sheldon, Porter Sheldon, Hudson Sheldon, Foster Sheldon, Dylan Camplese, and Haden Trenton.

Celebrations of life will be planned at a later date for his family and many friends.