Canzeri, Joseph Wood, 1930-2004

Joseph Wood Canzeri was born in Schuylerville, New York on May 16, 1930, to parents who immigrated to the United States from Sicily. He grew up in Saratoga, New York. After serving as an Army infantryman during the Korean War, he enrolled at Paul Smith’s College of Arts and Sciences in New York, graduating in 1955 with a two-year degree in hotel and restaurant management. He managed various restaurant and resort properties in New York, such as the White Face Inn in Lake Placid, New York and the Otesaga Inn in Cooperstown. Nelson Rockefeller, who regularly attended conferences at the Otesaga Inn, met Canzeri shortly after becoming governor of New York in 1959. When Rockefeller ran for re-election in 1962, he gave Canzeri a job arranging his campaign travel. According to Mr. Canzeri''s longtime friend Paul Auchter, the governor was impressed with his ability to fix problems and handle details, large and small. "Joe knew how to go out and get a pizza at 2 in the morning, that kind of thing," Auchter said. Canzeri continued as Rockefeller’s assistant after the Governor won re-election. He went on to manage the Rockefeller estate in Pocantico Hills, New York, and serve under Rockefeller during the latter’s term as Vice President (1974-1977). Canzeri came to the attention of other powerful families as well, and was asked to organize the funerals of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy in 1968. He is widely credited with the use of the mule and farm wagon in the King funeral cortege. After Rockefeller’s death in 1979, Canzeri moved to Los Angeles to work for the Rockefeller family development company. Canzeri’s duties as an assistant to Governor Rockefeller had been similar to Michael Deaver’s duties as a longtime assistant to Ronald Reagan. Deaver became acquainted with Canzeri while Reagan and Rockefeller were both governors. When Reagan ran for President in 1980, Deaver invited Canzeri to join the campaign as manager of the campaign airplane. This position as Deaver noted, can be like managing a hotel. "He made the Reagans feel comfortable, and Nancy loved him," the former White House deputy chief of staff said. Once Reagan became President, Deaver brought Canzeri into the White House as his chief assistant. Canzeri oversaw arrangements for trips, state visits, media events, and other special occasions which involved President Reagan, Mrs. Reagan, or Vice President Bush. Dubbed “king of the advance men," by Sheila Tate, former press secretary for Nancy Reagan, he appears to have been expert at Mike Deaver’s specialty of “scene setting.” He actually referred to himself as "Deaver''s Deaver." In early 1982 Canzeri was accused of ethics violations. He resigned from the White House staff on February 10, “to prevent embarrassment for President Reagan.” A subsequent Justice Department investigation cleared him of any wrongdoing. Canzeri founded Canzeri Co., a consulting and public relations firm with offices in New York and Washington. He did projects for the Reagan White House, the Republican National Committee, and helped Deaver plan the 1985 Inaugural events. In 1988 Canzeri was a campaign adviser to Republican vice presidential nominee Dan Quayle. His uncomplimentary comments about Quayle and his wife, made after the election, drew the ire of the Quayles and many others in Republican Party. Despite this ill feeling, he assisted in the organization of the 1989 inaugural activities for President George H. W. Bush. In 1992, Canzeri was one of the political professionals who initially signed on with Ross Perot’s presidential campaign. Canzeri died of prostate cancer on November 19, 2004. He was 74 years old.