Joseph V. DiBlasi, 67, Attorney, Montauker
Joseph Vincent DiBlasi, who spent all his summers in Montauk, died at his Northport home on Sunday. He was 67 and had had cancer for two years.
Mr. DiBlasi earned a Juris Doctor degree at St. John’s Law School in Queens. As a lawyer, he first was chief of homicide for the Queens district attorney. He later had a private practice in Kew Gardens. A former law partner, Barry Schwartz, a Queens County Supreme Court justice, called him a terrific lawyer. “He was my best friend and a better family man, and a better friend.”
He was born in Brooklyn on Dec. 15, 1949, one of three sons of Rudolph DiBlasi, a former New York State assemblyman and Family Court judge, and the former Theresa Restivo. He grew up there, graduating from Brooklyn Preparatory High School and then from Fairfield University in Connecticut.
In 1973 he married the former Nancy Fisher of Cincinnati, who survives, as do three children. They had met as young adults at the beach in Montauk when she was a personal assistant to Nick Monte of Gurney’s Inn. Mr. DiBlasi had worked before graduating from law school as a caddy at the Montauk Golf Club with his lifelong friends Artie LiPani and Bill Wilkinson. They lived in the same Montauk area and played nightly whiffle ball, joined by Mr. DiBlasi. The house where he spent his summers had been built by his maternal grandparents after his grandmother’s brother was killed in World War II.
Wendy Duryea, a close friend, said Mr. DiBlasi was the kind of person who valued his friendships deeply and maintained close ties with friends from the different phases of his life. He was an enthusiastic golfer and fisherman.
In addition to his wife and children, who are Matthew DiBlasi of Northport, Christopher DiBlasi of Perth, Australia, and Jennifer DiBlasi of Huntington, Mr. DiBlasi is survived by two brothers, G. Vincent DiBlasi of Manhattan and Rudolph DiBlasi of Moriches, and two grandchildren in addition to a number of nieces and nephews. Donations in Mr. DiBlasi’s name have been suggested to the Independent Group Home Living Program (IGHL), 221 North Sunrise Service Road, Manorville 11949, which operates the home where Mr. DiBlasi’s brother Rudolph lives.
The family will welcome guests today and tomorrow from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. at the Brueggemann Funeral Home, 522 Larkfield Road, East Northport. A funeral service will take place on Saturday at 11 a.m. at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in East Northport, with cremation to follow.