Joseph Benedetti, a former Republican state legislator in Virginia who was the minority leader in the state Senate in the 1990s, died Nov. 19 at his home in Richmond, Virginia. He was 85.
A son, Mark Benedetti, said the cause was cardiovascular disease.
Joseph Benedetti, a longtime Richmond lawyer, entered the lower chamber of the Virginia General Assembly, the House of Delegates, in 1983. He won a seat in the state Senate, representing parts of Richmond and its suburbs, in a 1986 special election.
With the Democratic Party dominating the state house during Benedetti’s 15 years in the Legislature, he became known as a pragmatic, thoughtful lawmaker. “Joe is ruled by reason,” former Republican state Sen. Wiley Mitchell of Alexandria told The Washington Post in 1989. “He is not confrontational.”
Benedetti quickly moved into the Legislature’s GOP leadership and in 1988 was elected co-chairman of the joint Republican caucus in Richmond. He eventually was chosen minority leader in the state Senate.
He was re-elected to the upper house in 1987, 1991 and 1995 before resigning in 1998, when he was named head of the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services.
In 1989, Benedetti made an unsuccessful run for state attorney general, losing to incumbent Mary Sue Terry. During a campaign appearance, then-Vice President Dan Quayle endorsed Benedetti but called him “George” instead of “Joe.”
“I’ve been called worse,” Benedetti said.
Joseph Benedict Benedetti was born March 28, 1929, in Richmond. His father, an Italian immigrant, sold imported food products.
Benedetti joined the Army in 1946 and served with the U.S. occupation forces in Japan after World War II. As an Army officer during the Korean War, he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal. He was a recalled to active duty at the time of the Berlin Wall crisis in the early 1960s.
Benedetti graduated in 1951 from the College of William and Mary, where he studied theater. He met his future wife, Marguerite “Peggy” Nolte, while performing in a version of the Passion Play in Richmond in the 1950s.
After graduating from law school at the University of Richmond in 1959, Benedetti practiced at several firms in Richmond. As a young lawyer in 1963, he attended a Republican gathering and came away as a candidate for the state Legislature, losing in his first run for office.
In later years, he was a law partner of James Gilmore III, a Republican who served as Virginia’s governor from 1998 to 2002.
In addition to his legislative service, Benedetti was chairman of the Virginia Board of Corrections in the early 1980s and led the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services from 1998 to 2001.
His first wife died in 1989 after of 32 years of marriage. A second marriage, to Sallie Belle Gwaltney, ended in divorce.
Survivors include six children from his first marriage, Vincent Benedetti, Stephen Benedetti, Matthew Benedetti and Thomas Benedetti, all of Richmond, Mark Benedetti of McLean, Virginia, and Maria Benedetti of Nashville, Tennessee; two brothers; and 13 grandchildren.
Benedetti was known throughout his life for his singing ability. In 1971, his son Mark said, he spent months learning to play the guitar in preparation for his starring role as Captain Von Trapp in a production of “The Sound of Music” at the Barksdale Theatre in Hanover, Virginia.