Tony DePaul, of Chestnut Hill, has written five novels, and he has a new book coming out on Aug. 31, “Reflexion,” published by New Plains Press, which includes poems and short stories. “I have written more good stuff in the last year than in the rest of my life,” Tony said. (Photo by Len Lear)[/caption]

by Len Lear

When it comes to selling almost anything, Tony DePaul is as focused as a guided missile. Give him something to sell, and he is like a man with a sweet tooth who fell into a vat of chocolate. Tony, 74, who was born in Chestnut Hill Hospital and still lives in Chestnut Hill today, has won awards and set records whenever a company gave him something to sell, despite the fact that he never took a business course in his life.

DePaul, who was on the Chestnut Hill Community Association board in the late 1990s, is short in stature but big in personality. He went to work for the Burroughs Corporation selling business machines in 1968 and before too long became the number five salesman out of 250. “Eighty percent of selling is people skills,” he said. After three years with Burroughs, Tony was recruited by Automatic Data Processing (ADP). By this time he had three children and lived in Willingboro, NJ, in a four-bedroom Cape Cod house with a quarter-acre of ground that he had purchased for $19,000.

At ADP he was the number one salesman every year. As a reward he was promoted to regional sales vice-president and sent to the company's office in Dallas, where he stayed for 18 months and where his office led the southern division in sales. But then the Philly office, which was “very tough,” asked him to come back.

“They had a boss from the midwest who could not hack it in Philly. He was too soft. They got rid of him and asked me to come back.” So Tony returned to Philly and became regional sales manager in 1976. When he got here, sales in the Philly office were $1.1 million for the year, but Tony “got rid of dead wood” and took sales up to $5 million after four years.

“I can get people to perform,” said Tony. “In Philly we went from the worst office in the company to one of the best. I learned a lot in Dallas. You fire the dead wood, and everyone knows you're serious. They know they either perform or leave. Mediocrity will drive you out of business.”

Despite his success in sales, however, Tony's first love was always writing, and he longed to get away from the protective scaffolding of corporate life. “I always squeezed in writing whenever I could. I could write a book just about growing up on Gorgas Lane for 15 years,” said Tony, who graduated from Cardinal Dougherty High School, where he won a National Merit Scholarship to La Salle College.

He later earned a teaching assistantship to the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. He taught two classes there while earning a master's degree in English Literature. In 1967 he came home to Philly because his wife, Angela, was homesick. She was from Germantown, one of six children in the family, who also went to Cardinal Dougherty. “I came back home with a used Chevy, one wife, one child on the way and $25 in my pocket,” said Tony, who later was divorced after 42 years of marriage. (There was a second marriage that ended after seven years.)

Tony retired at 59 and has done lots of writing, consulting and traveling. He has written five novels: “Brothers,” “Triangulation,” “Dinosaurs Can't Dance,” “Stealing Philly” and “In the Shadow of Cain.” He has also written short stories about a female detective, Rowena Morse (Rowena is the name of a character in “Ivanhoe,” a historical novel by Sir Walter Scott), who lives in Mt. Airy. Most of the stories are based in Chestnut Hill, and every one of Tony's novels has a Chestnut Hill connection.

All told, Tony's fictional output is 1700 pages, not counting a book of poetry. He has a new book coming out Aug. 31, “Reflexion,” the first one that will be published by a commercial publisher, New Plains Press of Auburn, Alabama. It includes poems and short stories. “I have written more good stuff in the last year than in the rest of my life,” Tony said. “I'm also assisting a Chestnut Hill doctor with his memoirs.”

Tony is nothing if not peripatetic. He has lived as an adult in Plymouth Meeting for three years, Glenside for 14 years, Washington Crossing for one year and Maple Glen for 21 years, but he returned to Chestnut Hill 14 months ago because “I have tons of friends in Chestnut Hill, and I wanted to get back to my roots.”

Tony, who has taught himself to speak Italian, also travels widely — many times to Europe, Mexico, Bermuda and Canada. “In Italy I met so many relatives, and I love Florence. You might say I was an unofficial tour guide in Italy.

“Four of us golf buddies went to Ireland and then London. At a bar in London they were watching a rugby game between Ireland and England. We each bet 50 pounds on Ireland, a three-and-a-half to one underdog. Ireland won, so we bought drinks for everybody. We all drank quite a bit, so a guy who was a Scotland Yard detective called for a police van, which drove us to our hotel with the siren going the whole time. I never laughed so hard!”

For more information about “Reflexion”: TdePaul@wirelessenergysolutions.com. You can reach Len Lear at lenlear@chestnuthilllocal.com