Joseph Ruggiero

Joseph F. Ruggiero was born and raised in South Philadelphia. He has spent his life working as a psychotherapist. He is an avid reader, walker, and family man. A member of the Secular Franciscan Order, Ruggiero and his wife Bernadette have five children, and nine grandchildren. He has founded a most successful drug and alcohol treatment facility , Self Help Movement, INC. where he has worked for more than 40 years as the CEO. Dr. Ruggiero retired in 2010.He pursues his passion as a fiction writer believing deeply in the healing power of fiction: to uplift, inspire, entertain the soul, and bring about a change of values. He has written two novels, A Rose On Ninth Street, and Raggabooty. He has adopted his first novel into a screenplay, A Rose On Ninth Street, which was shot in South Philadelphia, and Bristol, PA. The film will be coming out in the future. Ruggiero is working on his third novel, Chrystal Umbrella, a serial murder in the gay community of Philadelphia.