Ambridge police chief who died of coronavirus was retired Pittsburgh officer

Ambridge police Chief Mark J. Romutis was lauded as “the people’s policeman” in a statement on the borough’s Facebook page.

But he was more than that, former colleague Robert Swartzwelder said Monday.

Romutis was “just an all-around wonderful guy,” said Swartzwelder, a Pittsburgh officer who is president of the Fraternal Order of Police Fort Pitt Lodge 1.

Romutis, 64, of Conway, died Sunday, April 12, 2020. He had been recovering from covid-19 after a March 20 diagnosis.

Ambridge officials said he died from complications related to the disease.

“He had been told last Thursday that he could go back to work,” Beaver County District Attorney David Lozier said. “Then he had a sudden turn on Friday or Saturday.”

He will be remembered as “the people’s policeman” in Ambridge, officials said in a Facebook post.

Romutis also was dedicated to his wife Renee and their son Sam, the post said.

Romutis stepped in as interim chief in Ambridge in 2018 to replace Chief James Mann, whose trial on theft charges has been postponed because of the covid-19 pandemic.

“He was highly respected among the police,” Lozier said. “He was a good, steady leader when Ambridge needed that.”

Romutis also was Ambridge’s chief from 2006 through 2011, when he became Ellwood City’s chief through 2014. He had also worked as a Beaver County sheriff’s deputy.

He spent the bulk of his law enforcement career in Pittsburgh, where he served in Zone 2 from Sept. 6, 1983, until his retirement from the department on Dec. 28, 2004.

“He was my former lieutenant,” Swartzwelder said. “Just a wonderful human being dedicated to the law enforcement service.”

Swartzwelder and Romutis completed FBI fingerprint training together and had been friends for decades.

Romutis had excellent leadership qualities, a helpful ear and was extremely intelligent, Swartzwelder said.

He also taught criminal justice as an adjunct professor at the University of Pittsburgh and Community College of Beaver County.

Over the years, Swartzwelder and Romutis would exchange random texts and emails and debate points of the U.S. Constitution, Swartzwelder said.

Romutis also was a Civil War re-enactor and a Boy Scout leader, Swartzwelder said.

“His unique abilities brought progressive change to the Ambridge Police Department, including his monthly ‘Coffee with a Cop,’ to routinely walking a beat on Merchant Street interacting with business owners and his personal approach,” Ambridge Mayor David Drewnowski said in a statement.

He also was an active member of Ambridge’s Saints Peter and Paul Ukrainian Catholic Church, where he and his family volunteered making pirogi and making improvements around the church, according to the borough’s statement.

Romutis is the 31st member of law enforcement to die of complications related to covid-19 during the pandemic, according to Police One, a website for those in law enforcement that’s been tracking covid-19 deaths.