Trooper DePiano, Public Servant, Crosses The Rainbow Bridge

Trooper DePiano was a truly great dog, who lived an amazing life and touched so many lives, both young and old alike.

Trooper DePiano crossed over The Rainbow Bridge” this morning at 7:45 a.m.

Trooper was Sergeant Greg DePiano’s service dog and best friend for the past 18 years.

Trooper qualified in every imaginable way as a public servant.

During the past 18 years, Trooper participated in countless community events (to name a few):

Atlantic County Toys for Kids events.

Comforted patients at local hospitals and senior living homes.

Hurley in the Morning Charity Dinner and Golf Tournaments.

Halloween events with children and many more.

Trooper appeared to be more human-like, then canine.

Every year, we had a dinner place setting and Trooper DePiano had his own printed name card at our annual Resorts Casino Hotel Charity dinner.

I want to thank Atlantic County Freeholder Frank Balles for letting me know about Trooper’s passing earlier this morning.

We visited on-air with Greg DePiano this morning during the 9:00 a.m. hour. Greg called Trooper, “my baby.”

They were inseparable.

When I texted my wife Margie about Trooper’s passing, she wrote back that “Trooper is a legend.”

I often remark that I don’t believe in coincidences.

Immediately before writing this article about Trooper, I decided to take a quick look at my Facebook Newsfeed.

Pam Ruble-Butler had posted the following:

It’s a great story about The Rainbow Bridge for Dogs. My seeing this just couldn’t have been a coincidence and it earned a place of respect in this story.

Trooper served until the final hours of his life. He worked last night's Atlantic City “Shop with a Cop” event.

It’s not an exaggeration to say that Trooper was the face of The Atlantic County Toys for Kids program.

It will never be the same without him.

In memory of the selfless life and time’s of Trooper DePiano, if you’d like to make a contribution this Holiday season to Atlantic County Toys for Kids program, here’s the information to do so.