Donato Pietrodangelo, Writer

Donato (Danny) Pietrodangelo - Biography

 

Donato (Danny) Pietrodangelo, was born in New York City and holds a bachelor’s degree in English Literature and Communications and a master’s degree in communication (theory) from Florida State University. In his professional endeavors he distinguished himself as an award-winning film and video producer, fine art photographer, 3D computer animator, graphic designer and internationally published writer.

 

Pietrodangelo served for 10 years as a senior manager in Florida state government, working as an Assistant to the Florida Attorney General and as Communications Director for the Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services which, at the time, was the largest state agency in the country. He was recognized for public awareness campaigns and programs he produced on HIV/AIDS, child abuse, volunteerism and product safety. During this same period, he served as the Governor's Ad hoc Advisor on Telecommunications, specializing in working with the cable industry to improve use of public access/local origination. He was editor of the award-winning Access Magazine.

 

 

After leaving state service and founding Pietrodangelo Production Group, producing award-winning documentaries; e-learning courses, commercial advertising and public awareness campaigns; educational, marketing and training programs, print publications, computer animations and interactive multimedia on a wide range of topics including health care, drug abuse, teenage pregnancy, naval doctrine, the Caribbean and more. Pietrodangelo developed and produced digital learning, as a full-time contractor, for the prestigious U.S. Naval  War College in Newport, Rhode Island.

 

Pietrodangelo is activel  in the community.  He is a former FSU Student Body president, and has served on the boards of the Tallahassee-Leon County Homeless Shelter (Vice President, 2002),  LeMoyne Art Foundation, the Tallahassee Ballet, the FSU Seminole Torchbearers (Chair, 2002, 2007), the Florida Motion Picture and Television Association, the Girl Scout Apalachee Big Bend Council, the Florida Association of Voluntary  Agencies for Caribbean Action, the Tallahassee Advertising Federation, the Tallahassee Chapter of the Florida Public Relations Society and the Tallahassee Urban League.

 

He is a 2nd Degree Black Belt in Cuong-Nhu Martial Arts and for 10 years taught s a basic class martial arts class, for adults with disabilities.at the Pyramid Program. The class is   He was also editor of the national award-winning Cuong Nhu Martial Arts Association magazine, Dragon Nhus. Pietrodangelo’s work in the community has earned him recognition as a two-time recipient of the Florida Association for Retarded Citizens President's Award,

 He was honored as one of six finalists in the 2001 Tallahassee Volunteer of the Year and the recipient of the 1999 Outstanding Achievement Award from the Florida Volunteer Corp for his volunteer work as a communication consultant in Belize, Haiti, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Dominica, Grenada and other Caribbean countries.

 

He teaches photography at FSU’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute and, in the past, taught speech-writing as an adjunct professor in FSU’s College of Communication.

 

Pietrodangelo is an accomplished still photographer and the recipient of an Individual Artist Fellowship from the State of Florida/National Endowment for the Arts for his photography. His photographs have been awarded and exhibited in New York, Europe and the former USSR, and he has been the subject of features in national photography and regional art magazines. He is a freelance writer whose columns and articles on various topics have been published in regional, national (USA Today Network) and international publications (Gannett Newspapers) and awarded by the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. He was also photo editor for the Naval Institute Press book, 100 Years of U.S. Navy Air Power.

 

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 What matters is this: Pietrodangelo is both blessed and fortunate. He is married to the former Karen Cuba, who recently retired as an administrator after four decades of service at Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare (TMH) - where she started as a staff nurse, then served as director of multiple departments.. She Holds a bachelor’s degree in nursing from University of Florida, a Master’s degree in healthcare administration, also from Florida, and a Master’s degree in Research from FSU.

 

She has the patience of a saint and recognizes that her sometimes difficult spouse is still a work in progress. We have two extraordinary children, married to incredible spouses. His daughter Amy Meyer, an attorney, is the Lead legal Counsel for the Duval County Health Department; her husband David is a healthe care planner  They have given us two granddaughters. Our son Brian is a senior electrical engineer for Syntech Corporation in Tallahassee; his wife Megan is a pediatric intensive care nurse at TMH.  They too have brought two little wonders into our life a boy and a girl.

 

We have two rescue dogs, Jet a black lab and Max a foxhound mix .