William F. DiPietra was a filmmaker, director, screenwriter and founder/president of his own film production company, Richmond Productions.  A purist when it came to filmmaking, William (Bill) was devoted to celluloid, 16mm filmmaking, his Arri camera and his Steenbeck editing machine.  Bill received two Media Arts degrees: a B.A. from Fordham University and an M.A. from Long Island University.  He was also an FDNY EMT in New York City. WIlliam passed away in 2017, at age 42, due to illness.

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Bill loved being a New Yorker, exploring Manhattan, the Film Forum, the Union Square Market, Fordham and LIU, Little Italy, the Strand...the Mets.  Several of his friends called him "the quintessential New Yorker."  

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Bill loved to travel, too, and took hundreds of photos while visiting Hawaii, France, Italy, England, the Pacific Northwest, Virginia, Florida, Tennessee, Massachusetts...he worked on his master's thesis in Leeds, England, traveling there to see Louis LePrince's camera, the very first motion-picture camera.  How excited he was, telling his family, "I turned the gallery corner and there it was!"

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But most of all, Bill loved his family and friends.  He would do anything for them.  He was generous to those he didn't even know, supporting many causes and charities, and assisting filmmakers with limited resources to complete projects.

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The William F. DiPietra Foundation will honor Bill's life and memory by awarding grants to Media Arts students at Long Island University, Fordham University and Archbishop Molloy High School.  Additional grants will support charities and causes with special meaning for Bill and the DiPietra family: EMS FDNY Help Fund, FDNY Honor Emergency Fund, Ronald McDonald House.

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