The Rev. Robert V. Lott, 62; Helped the Poor of East Harlem

By Eric Pace
The New York Times
March 10, 2002

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/10/nyregion/the-rev-robert-v-lott-62-helped-the-poor-of-east-harlem.html

The Rev. Robert V. Lott, a Roman Catholic priest who played a leading role in the building of low-rent housing and an assisted-care residence in East Harlem, died on Feb. 27 at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan. He was 62.

The cause was cancer, friends said.

Until his death, Father Lott, who was pastor of St. Francis de Sales Church on East 96th Street, was president and chairman of the SFDS Development Corporation, a nonprofit organization he founded and of which he was the guiding spirit. The corporation stimulated the construction of about 700 units of low-income housing in East Harlem in the last 12 years, and construction continues.

The corporation was also the sponsor of the de Sales Residence for Assisted Living, a home for the elderly on Fifth Avenue at 108th Street, during its development stage. The Terence Cardinal Cooke Health Care Center and St. Vincent's Catholic Medical Center are now partners in providing services at the 127-apartment residence, which opened in 2000.

Until his death, Father Lott was also president and chief executive of the de Sales Assisted Living Management Corporation, another nonprofit organization.

The money for the construction of the East Harlem housing and the assisted living residence came from a combination of federal, state, city and private funds.

n the 1970's, Father Lott was a co-founder and one of the first chairmen of the Caring Community of Greenwich Village, a coalition of churches, synagogues and St. Vincent's Catholic Medical Center that provides services to the elderly in Greenwich village.

Father Lott was born in the Bronx and grew up there. He graduated from Iona College, studied at St. Joseph's Seminary in Westchester and was ordained in 1965.

In his early years, he worked with the New York Apostolate for the Deaf and served as assistant pastor in parishes in Yonkers and in Greenwich Village.

At his death, he was also the administrator of St. Lucy's Church on East 104th Street.

No immediate family members survive him.