Congressman Perriello loses his father

"It is with great sadness that Rep. Tom Perriello announced the death of his beloved father, Dr. Vito Perriello, Jr. on March 2..." Thus begins a somber press release from the office of Virginia's Fifth District Congressman. The late Perriello was a pediatrician who had recently retired, co-wrote a letter about the campaign, but suffered two strokes last week, the first on February 22.

Dr. Perriello, 68, tended to generations of local families for almost 40 years.

“I appreciate the hundreds of supportive calls and notes during this devastating week, and most of all your prayers for my family," says Rep. Perriello, who was home with his father last week. "My father’s legendary integrity and sense of service will be missed not just by our family and but also by our entire community. I hope to spend decades trying to match his ceaseless lived commitment to our common humanity. Please keep my mother Linda, his loving wife of over 43 years, in your prayers.”

Dan Heuchert remembers going as a kid to see Dr. Perriello at Pediatric Associates. When he returned to Charlottesville as an adult, that's where he took his own children.

"It had to be interesting for Tom when he first started [running for office], because more people knew his father," says Heuchert. "He treated a whole generation."

The Perriello family will receive visitors at St. Thomas Aquinas from 7 to 9pm Wednesday, March 4, and a service will be held there at 1pm Thursday, March 5.

–Updated 5:25pm March 2