State Deputy: SK Richard C. DeZao

Richard was born on Oct. 12th, 1962 at St. Mary’s hospital in Orange NJ. Oct. 12th being the true Christopher Columbus Day. He was raised and spent most of his childhood in West Orange. He was the first born to Richard Sr. and Arlene DeZao. He has a sister Diane.
Since grammar school he has always taken an active role in the church doing good works for others, including working with the Knights. As an altar server he served almost every 5PM Mass. By 8th grade he added being a lector and many times did both lector and server at the same Mass. Also, at the same time the church was looking for a part time maintenance worker to assist the full time sexton. His responsibilities included cleaning the church and the Bingo Hall which was being used 4 nights of the week. The Monday night Bingo was sponsored by the Knight’s which gave him the first experience with working with Knights. In addition his father became active in the Knights and even started a Father’s Day cookout for his fellow Knights which Rich assisted him with cooking the food. This tradition he continues to this day for my council Brother Vincent.
While working at the church after school he met the new full time sexton, John Kosis. One day John’s daughter came up to church to give him a hand. As Laura walked through the door Rich knew she was the love of his life; it just took 10 years to getting around to dating her. During this time he continued his schooling and went on to Rider University and earned a double major in Computer Science and Statistical Mathematics.
His first full time job was on a manufacturing floor as an expeditor before moving upstairs to collections and then inventory control. The company was closing after 4 years so he got a job at TRW (now known as Experian) in February 1988. He started off in Data Reporting and then promoted to several technical support roles within the company until he was asked to move to Delaware in April of 1993 because of the credit card boom and became a technical consultant with the sales team handling the major banking institutes in Delaware. After 30 years with Experian he moved on to Senior Batch Consultant for Lexis Nexis for the past 4 years.
Laura and Rich married on April 17th, 1993. They have 4 children, 3 sons, Andrew, Anthony and Nick and one daughter Angeline. They have blessed Rich and Laura with 3 granddaughters Madison, Melany and Brooks.
In May 2004, he took his first degree as a Knight and joined Brother Vincent Council 7517 at St. Polycarp church. By 2007 he was Grand Knight and received the Double Star. During his first year as Grand Knight he was tasked with starting a Squire Circle. With a lot of work and support from the Council and the State Deputy, Circle 5248 was started in August 2008. To date the Circle continues to grow raising over $10,000 for the State Police K9 unit. The Squire Circle also ran a bus trip for Knights and the Parish to visit the war memorials in Washington DC as well as Arlington Cemetery, St. John Paul II Center and the Basilica. This trip earned one of the highest awards a Circle can receive from Supreme, the “Corps de Elite” award.
In 2007, he joined Our Lady Queen of Peace Assembly 3038. He has held several positions including Faithful Navigator in 2013. During his year of leading the Assembly they were awarded the International ‘To be a Patriot Award’ by Supreme and also the Father Siri Award for the #1 Assembly in Delaware.
Previous positions he has held for the State include District Deputy under Past State Deputy Barry Swain for 2 years handling the 5 Councils in the Kent County area. Most recently State Warden under State Deputy John Brenner, State Advocate under IPSD Bob Rossi and currently holds the position State Treasurer under SD Gene Dzielak for the past 2 years.
The Knights of Columbus has given his entire family a Catholic base, high moral, and God first foundation which he treasures more than anything else. The friends and families they have met throughout all the Councils has truly been a gift from God.