'Route 9 Pete' - Berkeley Patch's 'Greatest Person' Of the Year

He left no obituary. Few knew his name. He wasn't a politician. He wasn't a sports hero. He wasn't a rich man.

But when Peter Coppola died this year from injuries he suffered after being struck by a car in Lacey Township, residents in both Berkeley and Lacey mourned.

Patches across the United States are picking one person in their communities who could be described as "The Greatest Person" of 2011.

Here at Berkeley Patch, we settled on the man who devoted his later years to picking up trash motorists tossed out the windows of their cars. We think it's fitting to honor him. Coppola asked for no recognition. He spent part of every day performing a thankless and never-ending task.

The little most knew about him was his nickname - "Route 9 Pete." The man in the white button-down shirt and dress pants who trudged up and down Route 9 every day was a familiar sight to many.

Ironically Coppola, 70, died from injuries on the same roadway he had tried to so valiantly to keep clean. He was struck by a Ford Explore on Route 9 in Lacey Township. No charges were filed against the driver.

Patch readers from both Berkeley and Lacey mourned the loss of the man they barely knew in our comments section.

Laurie Caroccia wrote that she had talked to "Mr. Pete" several times over the past few years.

"He said ... he just started out by taking a walk every day and that the trash bothered him," she wrote. "So he started picking it up. And years later he was still picking it up and his walks would take all day. I took him home once after he got caught in a downpour and had taken shelter at the WaWa. He wasn't homeless or down and out. He did what he did because he was good man, who was giving back in a way that suited him best."

Coppola, who once owned a framing store in town, had lived with his mother in their Bayville home for many years. But his mother died about a year ago, said reader Christine Williams.

"He was a quiet and gentle man who would do anything or help anyone who needed it, but never asked or accepted anything in return," she wrote. " He just wanted to do for his community. I will miss seeing him around."

Lacey Mayor Gary Quinn had tried to get Coppola to come to a Township Committee meeting last year, so officials could present him with a proclamation for his good works. But Coppola didn't want any part of it.

Peter Coppola's funeral was held on St. Patrick's Day, according to reader James A. Hughes. But the tributes left by those who valued him and will remember him are a fitting epitaph.

"I will miss the sight of that familiar white shirt walking along the roadway," Carrocia wrote. " There is an old saying, 'The things that are hard to bear, are sweet to remember.' RIP Mr. Pete, we will remember you."