Ernest Lewis “Ernie” Albanese Jr. was born in Martins Ferry, OH, the son of Ernest Lewis Albanese and Hazel Virginia Johnson Albanese. Younger sisters Lynn and Cyndy completed the family.
Ernie, as he was known, grew up in Lafferty, OH, a small coal mining community of fewer than 500 people. He attended Union Local High School, a consolidated high school serving seven similar small towns, in Morristown, OH, where he was captain of the football team and class valedictorian, graduating in 1965. One of his classmates posted that Ernie worked harder than anyone else and never used his Dad’s role as superintendent of the school to be treated better than anyone else.
Ernie then entered West Point with the Class of 1969 on an appointment from Congressman Wayne Hays of Ohio’s 18th Congressional District.
As a cadet Ernie was in Company B-4. His classmates wrote of him in the Howitzer, the cadet yearbook, that “Ernie came to us from the wilds of the Ohio Valley where that good old tradition of perseverance still exists. Anyone who has had the opportunity to know him will attest to his ability to get the job done without the usual hurricane of blood, sweat, and tears.” And they added this: “These last two years Ernie has had the undying support of a fan club of one, Mary Ann. After he leaves, West Point will never be the same. But he will.”
Shortly after graduation, on June 21, 1969, Ernie married Mary Ann Maggio in the Catholic Chapel at West Point. Mary Ann described how they first met: “A co-worker of mine was traveling back from Pittsburgh on Labor Day weekend in 1967, as was Ernie. They talked, and she told him she knew someone she thought he should meet. She hounded me to write to him and enclose a picture, and I finally did. He wrote back and invited me to a football game, and, although I was terrified of going, I got on the bus at the Port Authority [terminal in New York], and the rest is history.”
Upon graduation Ernie was commissioned in the Signal Corps. Following completion of the Signal Officer Basic Course at Fort Gordon, GA and Fort Sill, OK, as well as Jump School and Ranger School at Fort Benning, GA, he was assigned to the 144th Signal Battalion in Goeppingen, Germany. There, he revealed in the Class of 1969 50th Reunion Book, with typical self-deprecating humor: “My first assignment in Germany was as a cable platoon leader. That went well—wrecked my jeep first time in the field and the CO found me drunk after being stitched up by a schnapps-dispensing veterinarian.”
In 1971 Ernie was promoted to captain and became signal officer for the 2nd Battalion, 37th Armor Regiment in Erlangen, Germany, where he also served, very ably, as S-3 of the battalion during its critical annual tank gunnery season.
In 1973 Ernie returned to the Signal School. During 1974-75 he served in Korea with the 1st Battalion, 31st Field Artillery Regiment, an Honest John rocket unit, where he was awarded the Army Commendation Medal.
He then returned yet again to the Signal School in Augusta, GA. While there he earned a master’s degree in industrial management from Georgia Southern University.
Ernie left the Army in September 1976. He and Mary Ann then lived for many years in and near New York City, where Ernie went to work as a financial analyst with Citibank, and later still in South Orange, NJ. With the bank Ernie rose steadily through a series of increasingly responsible positions, including managing Citibank’s Times Square branch, eventually climaxing a brilliant 25-year career as a vice president and managing director for all the bank’s U.S. branches. “But,” Ernie told us, “marrying Mary Ann…has been my greatest success.”
After his retirement from banking, Ernie and Mary Ann moved to Barnesville, OH. There, Ernie became a published author and expert on art glass and pottery, particularly the art glass of the Ohio Valley. First, though, in 2020 Ernie published Small Town Football in Eastern Ohio 1937-1963, a detailed account of six-man football. It included records of the league champions, including the Lafferty team coached by his father, which went five seasons undefeated.
In May 2021 Ernie was stricken with the first in the series of cancers that eventually led to his death, but this did not deter him from further writing and publishing. He established a website relating to art glass, built his own large collection of examples, and published two fine books, lavishly illustrated with photographs (mostly in color and many of which he had taken) on the art form. First came Imperial Lead Lustre Art Glass, then (co-authored with Kimberly Weygandt-Scialdone) Imperial Free Hand Art Glass, both published in 2022.
Ernie and Mary Ann adopted large numbers of rescue dogs and cats, attended several reunions of his West Point class, and enjoyed home life. Ernie liked writing, sports events of all kinds, and occasionally going to the few antique shops still around. Mary Ann enjoyed cooking and baking for Ernie and keeping up their four-story Victorian home.
Upon Ernie’s passing, Mary Ann’s sister, in an eloquent tribute, described him as “gifted, wise, funny, generous, patriotic and brave.” She was right on the mark. Ernie Albanese was an extraordinary man—smart, dedicated, decent, and respected by all who knew and worked with him. May he rest in peace.
— Classmates and Family