Law School Mourns the Loss of Professor Vincent DiLorenzo

The St. John’s Law community mourns the loss of Professor Vincent DiLorenzo, a beloved colleague and teacher, who passed away on Thursday, November 28, 2019.

For almost 34 years, Professor DiLorenzo was a mainstay on the Law School faculty, teaching Property, Banking Law, Real Estate Transactions, and Condos & Co-ops to generations of students. Although he had been suffering from a respiratory ailment in recent years, he never lost his love of teaching and never wavered in his dedication to his students.

Professor DiLorenzo received his J.D. from Columbia University Law School, where he was a Harlan Fisk Stone Scholar and Associate Articles Editor of the Columbia Journal of Law and Social Problems. Before joining the St. John’s faculty in 1986, he was a member of the faculty at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and was associated with Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, practicing in the firm’s real estate-banking department.

At St. John’s, Professor DiLorenzo’s academic research focused on behavioral decision theory and non-linear dynamics or chaos theory. He applied those theories in his writings to issues of community reinvestment and development, consumer protection, and corporate ethics and social responsibility. His many articles and books in the field of banking law and regulation, real estate law, and real estate finance include: The Law of Condominiums and Cooperatives, Banks and the Securities Law Volume 5, Treatise on Banking Law, New York Condominium and Cooperative Law, and Basic Legal Transactions.

Beyond his work as a professor and legal scholar, Professor DiLorenzo served the profession on the executive committee of the New York State Bar Association’s Real Property Section. He was also a fellow of the American Bar Foundation, a co-editor of the N.Y. Real Property Law Journal, and a senior research fellow at the Vincentian Center for Church and Society at St. John’s University.

“Vince was a remarkable teacher and an able scholar,” says Dean Michael A. Simons. “While many of us knew him as a quiet and reserved colleague, his students knew him as ‘DiLo,’ an animated and energetic teacher who danced around the classroom and sang as he lectured. Literally thousands of them received the gift of Vince’s classroom teaching. It’s a legacy that is mostly invisible, but also deep and long-lasting.”

The arrangements for Professor DiLorenzo’s wake and funeral are as follows:

Visitation
Monday, December 2, 2019
2-5 p.m. and 7-9 p.m.
Fox Funeral Home
98-07 Ascan Avenue
Forest Hills, NY

Mass
Tuesday, December 3, 2019
9:30 a.m.
Sacred Heart R.C. Church
83-17 78th Avenue
Glendale, NY

Professor DiLorenzo will be sorely missed by all in the Law School community. May he rest in peace.