Gandolfo Vincent DiBlasi ’78 Dies at 64

Gandolfo Vincent DiBlasi died on January 14, 2018, at the age of 64. He was born in Brooklyn in 1953, graduated from Brooklyn Prep, Yale College and Yale Law School, and then joined Sullivan & Cromwell in 1978. He practiced law there for more than 30 years as a partner in the firm's Litigation Group and a member of its management committee.

DiBlasi was the recipient of the Yale Law School Center for the Study of Corporate Law's Simeon E. Baldwin Award in 2013. The award is given to a Yale Law School graduate or faculty member in recognition of distinguished achievement in law and business. At the presentation of the award, Judge Ralph K. Winter '60 said of DiBlasi: "He is stunningly brilliant and among the greatest craftsman in the law. He also has wisdom and judgment, qualities not always associated with brilliance. Vince is the kind of person you look to for both professional and personal advice and do so knowing that it would be generously given."

DiBlasi was a long-time and loyal supporter of the School, serving as Alumni Fund Chair, Alumni Fund Agent, and on the YLS Fund Board of Directors.

Professor Harold Hongju Koh said "I met Vince when we were freshmen and watched him grow into a brilliant lawyer, a profoundly shrewd counselor and a lightning quick wit-able to deliver a hilarious retort and a Latin quote from Ovid in the same breath. He loved Yale Law School and we loved him back."

According to Law.com, In his nearly four decades at the firm, DiBlasi earned a reputation as a hard-nosed litigator who handled some of Sullivan & Cromwell's most important matters for high-profile current and former clients such as Bankers Trust Co.; BP plc; Cox Communications Inc.; First Boston Corp.; Kidder, Peabody & Co.; Oxford Health Plans Inc.; Phillips Petroleum Co.; and The Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

He is survived by his wife Roberta, son Richard and his wife Kristen, son William and his fiancée Kristina, brother Rudolph, nephews Christopher and Matthew, and nieces Jennifer and Olivia.