LOUIS J. SIRICO, VILLANOVA LAW PROFESSOR AND HEART TRANSPLANT RECIPIENT

Louis J. Sirico , Jr., professor at the Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law since 1981 , passed away on December 26, 2018 . He was 73.

Known by all for his devotion to his students and his loyalty to Villanova, Professor Sirico was an eminent national presence in academic legal research and writing. He had recently received the William Burton Award for Outstanding Contributions to Legal Writing Education, awarded by the Burton Foundation in association with the Library of Congress , and the Thomas F. Blackwell Award for outstanding achievement in the field of Legal Writing from the Association of Legal Writing Directors and Legal Writing Institute .

He created the highly-regarded and much-imitated Legal Writing Program at the law school, and taught an Advanced Legal Writing course of his own design. H e developed and taught a legal history course on the drafting of the Constitution and Bill of Rights, using James Madison's notes from the Constitutional Convention as source material. He also taught Property, Land Use, Torts and Professional Responsibility. He is the author of several books on Legal Writing , a book for students serving as judicial law clerks , and numerous law review articles, including "Supreme Court Haiku" .

I n November of 1995, Professor Sirico received a heart transplant from an unknown donor. He was grateful every day for the gift of life he received, and he remained active with groups promoting transplant medicine and organ donation for the rest of his life.

The oldest of eight children, Professor Sirico grew up in New Haven, CT. He attended Yale College and the University of Texas School of Law, where he was the founding Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of Criminal Law and an Associate Editor of the Texas Law Review.

He is survived by his wife of 34 years, Patricia T. Brennan, and their daughters Laura and Kath leen Sirico , as well as his siblings.

A Memorial Service will be held on Friday January 11, 2019, at 7 pm at the St. Thomas of Villanova Church on the campus of Villanova University . Relatives and friends are invited to a Visitation at the Church that will begin at 5:30 pm.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to The Augustinian Fund, The Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law, Sacred Heart Church in Camden, NJ, Catholic Extension, Hamden Hall Country Day School, Tredyffrin Public Library, or the Gift of Life Family House in Philadelphia.