By ROBERTO SCALESE
Mourners will have a chance to say goodbye to Robert J. Haas Jr. early next week. The Revere City Council president and former mayor passed away over the holiday weekend.
Haas will lie in repose on Monday, July 10 from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Vertuccio & Smith Funeral Home, 773 Broadway, Revere. The funeral service will be held Tuesday, July 11 at 11 a.m. at St. Anthony of Padua Church on Revere Street. Haas will be buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in Everett.
Flags in Revere were lowered to half mast after news of Haas’s passing spread through the community.
Known to all as Bob, Haas, 73, and his wife Juanita were on Block Island for a getaway when he suffered a fatal heart attack. He is survived by his three children, Jennifer, Rachel and Robert, and several grandchildren.
A life-long resident, Haas graduated from Revere High School in 1963. He served in the military before taking a job with Shawmut Bank, working during the day and attending school at night. After graduating with a finance degree from Northeastern University, Haas ran several successful businesses in Revere.
For five decades, he was a staple of Revere politics, first winning a council seat in 1979. In 1991, he defeated long-time incumbent mayor George Colella in a hard-fought race for the Mayor’s office. After serving four terms, he lost a re-election bid to Thomas Ambrosino in 1999. Four years later, he successfully ran for an at-large councilor seat and served until his death last week.
Scalese can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @BertoScalese.