Once you’ve passed the age of 70, every birthday is something special. Friends and family gather, often celebrating with lots of cake and ice cream, and maybe a cocktail or two.

That’s not how Mt. Airy’s Frank DiIorio does it. He likes to push himself in ways that few other septuagenarians — or people half his age — would even consider.

For example, on March 14, the day before his seventy-second birthday — with his wife and a neighbor as his support team — DiIorio ran/fast-walked up and down the Philadelphia Art Museum's 72 steps seventy-two times in a row. “After I read that there were 72 steps in front of the museum near the Rocky statue,” he said, “I realized this was literally a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

“Starting in mid-January,” he added, “I did repetitions of running up our cellar stairs. It was beyond tedious, but it worked the right muscle groups. Prep was completed when I was able to do the equivalent of 45 Rocky Steps repetitions."

“The actual step running on March 14 was easy for the first 20-plus reps, then settling into a groove for the next 30. The last 20 or so were more demanding mentally than physically. Hitting the top step with my friend, Tom Lee, and wife waiting and cheering at the end of number 72 was incredibly satisfying.”

DiIorio has always been physically active and fit, and he also has good genes — his mom died at 101 and his dad at 91 — but he always tries to push himself to a new level each birthday.

One year he walked from his home in Mt. Airy to Center City and back. Another year he walked in a many-miles-long meandering loop in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. And one year the challenge was to ascend all 15 staircases in Manayunk. DiIorio calls these yearly adventures “The DOA ('Denial Of Aging') Challenge, not 'Dead on Arrival,’” he said.

“Being retired,” he explained recently, “it's easy to drift into a nice day-to-day routine, but I've found having something that's goal-oriented suits me well, gives me more focus. These birthday challenges suit that purpose well.”

DiIorio grew up on Staten Island and in Franklin Lakes, North Jersey. He attended the University of Pennsylvania, graduating in 1974 with a degree in Sociology. He followed that up with a master’s degree in City Planning in 1976 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

His higher education notwithstanding, his career was largely spent in computer programming. He worked with manufacturers and banks. One early banking job took him to New Zealand. “That was fun!” he quipped. But for most of the last 22 years he supported pharmaceutical New Drug Applications.

When asked what person has had the greatest impact on his life, DiIorio replied, “It's a type of person rather than a specific individual. I've always been attracted to and drawn inspiration from people who are masters of what they do. These can be musicians, athletes, authors, etc. It isn't necessarily that I want to do what they do; I just appreciate their mastery and sometimes redefinition of their field while at the same time being the kind of person that you'd want your kids to be like.”

A Mt. Airy resident for the last 16 years, DiIorio was nudged into retirement in 2020 when the Covid pandemic forced his employer to reduce its staffing. He and his wife had moved to Philly from North Carolina in 2008. “Life in Chapel Hill, N.C., was comfortable, but we wanted more than just comfortable,” he said. “We wanted a more stimulating environment and a location where we'd know our neighbors. Mt. Airy fit the bill perfectly, and we're beyond happy that we're here. But leaving everything behind, including friends of 30-plus years, was tough.”

When asked what he would make vanish forever if he could, DiIorio said, “People who believe that being willfully ignorant is the same as having a valid opinion. And if I had any leftover karmic power after that: hunger, people who weaponize religion, assault rifles, ATVs. I could go on.”

Citing a $1.13 billion winner in the New Jersey lottery, DiIorio considered what he would do with huge lottery winnings. “The part I wouldn't save,” he said, “would be divvied up between traveling and being a super donor to a wide variety of 501c3s, especially land conservancies and those that are hunger-related.”

Knowing this profile would be appearing in the Local, DiIorio wanted to take the opportunity to pay tribute to his “best friend and wife, April Sansom, who has for years opened my eyes to new art, music and literature. I can be, for better or worse, my authentic self around her, and she still seems to like me after knowing me and sharing life with me for over 25 years.”

Len Lear can be reached at lenlear@chestnuthilllocal.com