The Italian Cavaliere di Gran Croce della Repubblica Italiana Judge Dominic R. Massaro. past away in the last few days. He enjoyed a prominent career that spanned half a century as a Judge at the Supreme Court of New York. To pay final respects, Pelham Funeral Home (64 Lincoln Avenue, Pelham, NY 10803) will be open on Friday, December 27, from 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm. And the mass of Christian Burial will be held on Saturday, December 28 at 10:00 am at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church (559 Pelham Manor Road, Pelham, NY 10803).
A distinguished legal scholar, public servant, and a proud Italian American, Judge Massaro served as a New York City and State Human Rights Commissioner, demonstrating his commitment to social justice. He chaired the Urban Public Higher Education Committee, leading efforts to improve opportunities for Italian American students at the City University of New York. His report was instrumental in establishing the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute Research and Service Institute.
He held four earned doctorates and numerous honorary degrees. On three separate occasions, the Journal of the American Bar Association credited him with “trends in the law.” A trustee of La Scuola d’Italia in New York and of the American University of Rome, he holds the rank of “Academic” at the Tiberian Academy there. A Woodrow Wilson Visiting Fellow, he is listed in Who’s Who in American Law and The American Bench. His treatise, “Cesare Beccaria, the Father of Criminal Justice: His Impact on Anglo American Jurisprudence” earned Italy’s International Dorso Prize.
Massaro has served as President Emeritus of the Conference of Presidents of Major Italian American Organizations, as Principal Representative of the American Judges Association at the United Nations for fifteen years, three terms as President of the American Society of the Italian Legions of Merit, and as Historian of The National Italian American Foundation.
He was the recipient of more than a hundred awards, honors and citations presented over the years for professional and civic accomplishment, including the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Four Freedoms Award. Justice Massaro’s chivalric conferrals are impressive, including The Vatican’s Pontifical Knight of the Grand Cross of St. Gregory the Great and the Sovereign Military Order of Malta’s Knight of the Grand Cross of Merit.
