Sunday marked 25 years since Gail Ramsey lost her sister, DeAnn White, a Germantown native, in the Pier 34 collapse. The incident claimed the lives of three women, including White and her coworkers Monica Rodriguez and Jean Marie Ferraro.

On May 18, 2000, the trio attended a nightclub on the pier to celebrate White’s 26th birthday. That evening, the pier collapsed, sending a large portion of the structure into the Delaware River. Over 40 people were injured during the incident, with a slew of criminal and civil lawsuits following. 

The pier’s owner, Michael Asbell, and Club Heat’s manager, Eli Karetny, were found guilty of charges relating to poor maintenance of the pier. Subsequently, both were sentenced to community service and 11 to 22 months of house arrest. 

Several civil lawsuits against various defendants later settled for over $29 million. 

Ramsey told the Local, “She [White] really didn't have to die, and that's why we pursued whatever legal avenues that were available to us … It still hurts our heart that DeAnn is not here, and the reason that she is not here is because all the things that should have been managed at the pier were not managed.”

White grew up in Germantown along with her four sisters, Gail, Debra, Cheryl, and Donna, attending Little Flower Catholic High School for Girls.

Ramsey said, “DeAnn was the baby of the bunch, and she was just so creative … She got the whole family involved in whatever she was doing. She created this thing called ‘Poetry in the Deep,’ where grade schools in the area got to submit poetry about creatures that lived in the sea.” 

She added that her sister “came up with that with that spirit of volunteerism. She always volunteered in the community around the holidays, giving out food and making food baskets around Thanksgiving. So, she was always busy giving of herself.” 

After White’s death, Ramsey, along with family and friends, worked to honor White through charitable efforts in her name. 

The group established the “DeAnn White Scholarship Fund” through the Philadelphia Foundation, which gives a $1,000 annual award to a journalism student at White’s alma mater, Temple University. White graduated from Temple in 1996 with a bachelor’s degree in Public Relations. She would later work for the New Jersey State Aquarium, where she met Rodriguez and Ferraro. 

Ramsey said, “She [White] embraced that field wholeheartedly. At the New Jersey State Aquarium, she would get really excited when she would reach out to journalists and reach out to the press to cover all the different events that she did. She absolutely thrived in that role.” 

According to Ramsey, notable recipients of the fund include Chanteé Lans, now a reporter for an ABC affiliate in New York, and Matt Petrillo, Director of Communications at Temple University’s Department of Public Safety. 

The fund started shortly after White’s funeral, with the first award given in 2001. 

Ramsey said, “Right around her funeral, people were flooding us with gifts in her memory. They were writing checks, and so we kind of harnessed all that money and created the scholarship fund.” 

Along with the fund, the DeAnn White Award for Excellence in Community Service is presented by the Philadelphia Public Relations Association (PPRA) to a member who demonstrates exceptional commitment to community service.

Ramsey said, “Her [White’s] friends and colleagues, who are also members of that organization [PPRA], wanted to do something in her memory, to commemorate her spirit and how engaged she was in that profession.” 

Around the time of her death, White attended Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church in Germantown. The Enon Tabernacle Scholarship Program formed after the accident, and provides one student every year with $250 in financial support for college books and related academic expenses. 

Through the charitable efforts in White’s name, Ramsey wants her sister to be remembered for her life, not the tragedy that claimed it. Ramsey remembers taking the trolley with her sister to shop on Chelten Avenue, or biking in the Wissahickon, but most importantly, she remembers the effort White gave to those around her. 

Ramsey said, “If she were alive today, I’m sure she would be mentoring students or young people to do better in the world.” 

The families of fellow collapse victims Rodriguez and Ferraro also established programs in their memories, and have remained close to White’s family, Ramsey said.

Tommy Tucker can be reached at Tommy@ChestnutHillLocal.com.