Rino Aldrighetti

On Monday, May 30, 2022, Rino Aldrighetti (74) passed away peacefully in his Takoma Park, MD home. Beloved husband of the late Laura Aldrighetti, loving father of Nina Aldrighetti (James Ragucci) and Peter Aldrighetti, cherished grandfather of Fredrik “Freddy” Kern Ragucci, and loving son of the late Inez and Nerino Aldrighetti.

Born in Brooklyn in 1948 and raised in the Bronx, Rino came to St. Mary’s County, Maryland and then to the D.C. area after college as a community organizer with Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA), an AmeriCorps program. There he met Laura Kern, another D.C. VISTA volunteer. They married in 1976 and moved to Takoma Park not long after, where they raised their children Nina and Peter. Rino served on the Takoma Park City Council from 1983-1985 and was well known for his activism and maintaining an active role in community issues throughout the rest of his life.

A leader of nonprofit organizations throughout most of his career, Rino will be best remembered for his role in leading the Pulmonary Hypertension Association (PHA) for seventeen years. He was initially the first PHA employee, hired in 1999 as part-time executive director. He soon became full-time and later was promoted to president and CEO.

Under Rino’s leadership, PHA expanded from a small grassroots organization to the largest pulmonary hypertension organization in the world. It became a professionally staffed organization with rapidly expanding fundraising, budget, services, and an extensive global network. And through it all, for him, the goal of the work was always centered on the people impacted by PH.

“When you think of this period in PHA’s development, I hope that you will think that I tried my hardest to lead this organization with integrity and a deep and abiding desire to change the history of this disease for the good of patients,” Rino said in his retirement speech in 2016.

Before joining PHA, Rino served as executive director of the National Family Farm Coalition, executive secretary of the National Volunteer Organizations Active in Disaster, development director for the National Council for Adoption and the National Alliance on Mental Illness, acted as a consultant for funding and organizational development supporting clients in the U.S. and Canada, and served as associate director of development and public relations for the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.

In retirement, he cared for his wife Laura who died of cancer the following year while at Casey House, a compassionate Montgomery Hospice facility. He also began “A Nation Worth Having: A Blog about Binding Values” which combined his love of writing with his passion for political discourse, interwoven with personal stories. Even after he was diagnosed with cancer himself in 2018, he continued to perfect his cooking and baking techniques, wrote stories to tell his grandson Freddy, and spent time with his many longtime friends. He stayed at home until the end, in the last nine months joined by Nina, James and Freddy, with the caring support of Montgomery Hospice home hospice. He leaves behind a tremendous legacy through his love of family and lifelong commitment to improving the lives of others.

Visitation will be held on Sunday, July 10 from 10 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at Hines-Rinaldi Funeral Home, 11800 New Hampshire Avenue, Silver Spring, MD. Funeral services to follow at 12:30 p.m. at the same location. Interment private. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Pulmonary Hypertension Association, 8401 Colesville Road, Suite 200, Silver Spring, MD 20910 or Montgomery Hospice, 1355 Piccard Drive, Suite 100, Rockville, MD 20850.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.hinesrinaldifuneralhome.com for the Aldrighetti family.