In Memoriam: L’On. Gr. Uff. Dominic R. Massaro
December 18, 2024
Dominic R. Massaro. Image Credit – Italian American Museum
Editor’s note: Staten Islander previously covered Mayor Adams hosting of an Italian-American Heritage Celebration at which he presented citations to the IAM founder and others who have made positive contributions to the Italian-American community.
Dominic R. Massaro is one of only a dozen Americans of Italian descent to hold Italy’s highest decoration – – Cav. di Gran Croce della Repubblica Italiana. He enjoyed a half century career filled with prominent public service as a member of the bar, jurist, author and lecturer. A “highly qualified” nominee to the judiciary by Governor Mario Cuomo in 1986, he has since presided as a Justice in the Supreme Court of New York. Justice Massaro was a central personality in the organized Italian American community.
Justice Massaro served seven years as a New York City, then New York State human rights commissioner. The holder of four earned and numerous honorary doctoral degrees, he is equally at home in Washington or Rome and has been published in legal and scholastic circles. 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.
Judge Massaro was appointed Chair of the Urban Public Higher Education Committee by the New York Committee of Italian American State Legislators to investigate and make recommendations to The City University of New York with respect to the needs of their Italian American students, faculty and administrators. His report was instrumental in establishing the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute Research and Service Institute as well as the University continuing its policy of inclusion of Italian Americans as an affirmative action category.
He is “President Emeritus” of the Conference of Presidents of Major Italian American Organizations and was the long-time Historian of The National Italian American Foundation. He was the recipient of ten score 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. By wide acclamation he served three terms as president of the prestigious American Society of the Italian Legions of Merit. He completed 15 years as Principal Representative of the American Judges Association (NGO) at the United Nations.
The Italian American Museum sends its deepest condolences to the Massaro Family.
May his soul rest in peace.
Visitation
Friday, December 27, 4:00 – 8:00 pm
Pelham Funeral Home
64 Lincoln Avenue
Pelham, NY 10803
Mass of Christian Burial
Saturday, December 28, 10:00 am
Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church
559 Pelham Manor Road
Pelham, NY 10803
Banner Image: L’On. Gr. Uff. Dominic R. Massaro. Image Credit – IAM
Italian American Museum
Logo A NEW HOME IN THE HEART OF LITTLE ITALY New Exterior The new Italian American Museum (IAM) will serve as a cultural hub and community nexus for Italian Americans and the Little Italy neighborhood. Through permanent and temporary exhibits, robust educational and cultural programming, and collaborations with the community, the IAM will become the preeminent center for learning about and engaging with Italian as a platform for sharing Italian American voices and celebrating Italian American achievements, the IAM will be interesting to both Italian Americans and non-Italian Americans, bringing Italian American culture and heritage to younger generations and a wide range of new audiences. The Italian American Museum preserves, promotes, and celebrates the culture and history of Italian Americans, serving as living record of their contributions to America and a bridge between the remarkable past and the evolving future of the community. By allowing Italian Americans to share their story in their voice, the Italian American Museum will encourage a full appreciation of what it means to be Italian American. News Progress Photos Building Update / Annual Appeal Dear friends, We are pleased to report that we have topped off our new building and the new brick facade is being applied. Below please find pictures of the new building and the brick facade. Topping off the building Close up of the new brick facade View of the brick facade on our building Due to COVID-19 we have postponed all of our fundraising activities for the year including our annual Golf Classic and Ambasciatore Awards dinner. However, we ask that you be as generous as possible during this time of our Annual Appeal since it will be our sole fundraiser for 2021. Please know that we sincerely appreciate your contributions and that funds raised will be used to support the construction for the new building. We do so look forward to seeing you again at the reopening of the “New” Italian American Museum in Fall 2022. We will be bigger and better than ever before. Thank you for your continued support of our Italian American Museum. Andrà tutto bene! Respectfully, Uff. Prof. Joseph V. Scelsa Italian American Museum 19th Annual Golf Classic to be held on Monday, June 6th at North Hills Country Club. North Hills Country Club Exhibitions The New Italian American Museum: Architectural renderings and model for the forthcoming newly designed museum. OUR STORY FROM COLUMBUS TO CUOMO From our beginnings in Little Italy The IAM is located on Mulberry Street in the heart of what was once the largest Italian community in the United States in the first quarter of the 20th century. We became aware of the need for our own Museum in 1999, with the launch of the first major exhibition on Italians in America at the New York Historical Society, “The Italians of New York: Five Centuries of Struggle and Achievement”. The exhibit was a great success and we realized that in order to be part of the cultural dialogue in America, we needed our own Museum. So in 2001, we were chartered in New York State as the first Italian Museum in America. In our Museum, we seek to tell our whole story from Columbus to Cuomo and everything in between, our struggles and our accomplishments through hard work, ingenuity and perseverance. It has not always been easy but we have much to be proud of, for our contributions to American society are enormous. Now we will have a secular cathedral for all to see, experience and appreciate where we came from and what we have achieved.