Joseph J. Piccininni (born ''Guiseppe Piccininni'', January 15, 1922 – September 16, 1995) was a long-serving city councillor in

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, Canada. He represented the Corso Italia area on city council for 25 years.

Background

Born in Toronto, Piccininni was educated at De La Salle College and then joined his family's produce business and opened a restaurant named Piccininni's. He was very involved in soccer in the city and in southern Ontario and Quebec. He was president of the

National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its ...

, with teams in Toronto, Hamilton, Kitchener, Ottawa, Sudbury, London, St. Catharines, Windsor and Montreal, from 1965 to 1977 a span of 12 years. He was elected vice-president of the

Canadian Soccer Association The Canadian Soccer Association (; branded as Canada Soccer) is the governing body for soccer in Canada. Headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, the federation is a full member of FIFA and governs Canadian soccer at the international, professional, a ...

at the 1973 AGM of the national governing body, and held this position until the 1979 AGM.

Politics

He was elected to city council in 1960 for a ward covering a working class area of west Toronto with a large Italian-Canadian population. He was the first representative ever elected to city council from Toronto's large Italian community. He played an instrumental role in the construction of Lamport Stadium, which served as a home venue for many National Soccer League teams. On council he was a strong supporter of the right wing, generally taking conservative and pro-development stances. In 1982, he raised an unsuccessful motion to have the

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magazine '' The Body Politic'' banned from city council's press gallery after the magazine ran a cover story on the

Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence (SPI), also called Order of Perpetual Indulgence (OPI), is a charitable, protest, and street performance movement that uses drag and religious imagery to satirize issues of sex, gender, and morality (particular ...

, which Piccininni took as an affront to his

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

faith."Historicist: I Sing The Body Politic"
''

Torontoist ''Daily Hive'', formerly known as ''Vancity Buzz'', is a Canadian online newspaper based in Vancouver, British Columbia. It began digital publishing in 2008 and became Western Canada's largest online-only publication by 2016. In September 2022 ...

'', February 14, 2015. In the 1985 municipal election he was ousted in a surprise upset by 28-year-old school board trustee Betty Disero.Derek Ferguson, "School trustee topples Piccininni after 25 years." ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division. ...

'', November 13, 1985. pg. B7

Later life

After the defeat former mayor, and then cabinet minister,

David Crombie David Edward Crombie (born April 24, 1936) is a former Canadian academic and politician who served as the 56th mayor of Toronto from 1972 to 1978. Crombie was elected to Parliament following his tenure as mayor. A member of the Progressive Co ...

had Piccininni appointed as a federal citizenship judge. His colleagues on city council also voted to name the Joseph J. Piccininni Recreation Centre in his honour.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Piccininni, Joe 1922 births 1995 deaths Businesspeople from Toronto Canadian citizenship judges Canadian people of Italian descent Canadian restaurateurs Toronto city councillors 20th-century Canadian municipal councillors