Born in Little Italy in Baltimore on May 11, 1938, Cardinale held a teaching degree from the University of Maryland and taught in the Howard County school system and Baltimore County and Baltimore City. He was also a former president of Canterbury Construction, a family business (Kobell, 2008). His wife was Mary Kay. Cardinale ran for office intending to act on widespread flooding in Berlin and “formed an Infrastructure Committee to work out how to approach” which led to a study completed by the Army Corps of Engineers. He also oversaw the addition of a sidewalk to Flower Street, added additions to town personnel like deputy administrative director, and hosted Maryland Senator Barbara Mikulski in 2005 (DispatchAdmin, May 7, 2008).
Cardinale’s most significant project, with the support of the Berlin council, “was the effort to disband and sell off the town’s municipal electric company.” He “often hosted periodic informal town meetings and strived to bring the town’s business into the sunshine, distributed bicycles to the town’s needy children at Christmas, worked towards [a] Main Street facelift with lights and flagpoles and reached out to the minority segments of the town” (DispatchAdmin, May 8, 2008). Cardinale died in office in May 2008, just six months before completing his first term.
DispatchAdmin. (2008, May 4). 05/05/2008: Monday, May 5 – Berlin mayor dies at home: News ocean city MD. News Ocean City Maryland Coast Dispatch Newspaper. https://mdcoastdispatch.com/2008/05/05/monday-may-5-berlin-mayor-dies-at-home/.
DispatchAdmin. (2008, May 7). 05/08/2008: Cardinale remembered for passion: News ocean city MD. News Ocean City Maryland Coast Dispatch Newspaper. https://mdcoastdispatch.com/2008/05/08/cardinale-remembered-for-passion/.
DispatchAdmin. (2008, May 7). 05/08/2008: Williams named Berlin’s interim mayor till election: News ocean city MD. News Ocean City Maryland Coast Dispatch Newspaper. https://mdcoastdispatch.com/2008/05/08/williams-named-berlins-interim-mayor-till-election/.
Kobell, R. (2008, May 5). Thomas A. Cardinale 1938-2008. Baltimore Sun. https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-2008-05-05-0805050048-story.html.
