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lily:
out of the water …
out of itself
— Nick Virgilio
Nick Virgilio was born in Camden, New Jersey, in 1928. He grew up with his two brothers, Anthony and Larry, in Camden city. When he got out of the Navy in 1948, which he had entered after finishing high school, Nick worked around the country as a radio announcer before returning to Camden in 1958.
He graduated from Temple University in 1952 and was awarded a BA degree. In 1962 he discovered haiku when he came across a collection of English-language haiku by Kenneth Yasuda, A Pepper Pod, at Rutgers University. He devoted his life from then on to haiku. He was always bombarding his friends, including his parish priest, Father Michael Doyle, with new haiku, often prefacing each one with the phrase “What do you think of this one?” His book of poems, Selected Haiku, which was published in a second edition in 1988, was one of the most important books ever published by an American haiku poet. He died on January 3, 1989, while preparing to tape a CBS network TV show called “Nightwatch,” on which he was to discuss his favorite topic, haiku (adapted from Cor van den Heuvel, “Nick Virgilio and American Haiku: Creating Haiku and an Audience,” 1990).
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Alfred taught English to junior and senior high school students in New Jersey and Massachusetts prior to working for the municipal government of the City of Camden, New Jersey. He began working with the City of Camden Department of Planning & Development, Division of Housing Services, as a Cost Estimator for Property Improvement in 1984.
He spent the next thirty-eight years working in both the Division of Housing Services, and the Finance Department Bureau of Grants Management, helping the City administer state and federally funded affordable housing projects in Camden.
Alfred spent ten years working with the Bureau of Grants Management, where he reviewed and evaluated grant applications and proposals for funding from non-profit and for- profit housing developers. These agencies included St. Joseph’s Carpenter Society, Heart of Camden, Camden County OEO, Habitat for Humanity,
Camden Lutheran Housing, RPM Development and others. He also worked with social service agencies such as Dooley House, Respond Inc., Sikora House, Center for Family Services, and Volunteers of America, that applied for grant funding.
He also played a significant role in the planning and implementation of the Annual Consolidated Plan grant application submitted to the Department of Housing and Urban Development each year. The Bureau holds an annual grant funding seminar along with public meetings and technical assistance sessions concerning the C-Plan.
Working for the City of Camden Division of Housing Services Alfred also served as the coordinator of the federal funded HOPWA housing Program for 14 years.
HOPWA funds provided safe, affordable, secure, housing for persons with HIV/AIDS, by issuing housing vouchers to their participants. He managed the delivery of services to 80-90 clients a year, covering Camden, Burlington and Gloucester counties.
During his time working for the City of Camden Mr. Dansbury was a member of the CPAC Homeless Network Planning Committee, the Local Law Enforcement Block Grant Advisory Committee and United Neighbors of Whitman Park.
Outside of his work with the City of Camden, Alfred worked as an Adjunct Instructor of Reading Skills and Writing Skills at Camden County College, teaching at both the Camden and Blackwood campuses. In 2022 Alfred published,
“The Strength of Courage” a novel he embarked on as a graduate student in Rowan University’s M.A. in Writing program in 2014-2018.
He earned a Bachelor of Arts in English and Journalism from Rutgers University, a Master’s of Arts degree in Business Administration from Eastern University, a Master’s of Arts in Education from Eastern Michigan University and a Master’s of Arts in Writing from Rowan University.
