The John Marshall Law School mourns the death of Professor Emeritus Anthony “Tony” Zito who died Friday, Feb. 25, after a lengthy illness. He was 68.
Zito had been a member of the faculty for 35 years before his retirement in 2010. He came to the law school in 1974 and helped organize the Legal Writing Program. “Tony Zito started teaching at John Marshall about a semester after I did. He was one of the original group, the ‘homesteaders’ so to speak, as the faculty grew from 20 fulltime members in the early 1970s to our current roster of nearly 80 faculty. We both were privileged to be a part of many great changes at the law school,” said Dean John Corkery. “Tony Zito founded our legal writing program. It is now recognized as one of the best programs in the country,” said Professor Ann Lousin. “Tony started that program under difficult conditions, and it was his dedication that laid the foundation for our outstanding training of our students. All of us owe him a huge debt.”
He went on to teach Corporations, Family Law and Legal Ethic to hundreds of students s. Professor Michael Polelle credits Zito with organizing the “Recent Illinois Decisions” class, which he co-taught with former dean Fred Herzog. “Tony really did a lot of research on each case they presented, and after Herzog stopped teaching, Tony took that class over,” Polelle said.
Zito was someone “who was warm, and had a common touch. He was the one who knew all the people who were not at the top. He had kind words for every maintenance man and security guard at John Marshall,” Polelle added.
Polelle recalled that Zito would mimic the performer Jackie Gleason just before class. “He’d be in the faculty lounge and he’d say ‘It’s showtime’ and leave for his class. And, he loved the Arnold Schwarzenegger movies, the ‘Terminator’ and such.”
“If ever there was a success story, it is my dad’s,” said his daughter, Judie Zito Nash (JD ’96). “He grew up in a poor, working class, first generation family, but had big dreams and wanted more for himself and future generations. It was the mantra he repeated to us often…the goal is to make every generation after you better than you.”
Zito graduated from Case Western Reserve University School of Law receiving both his JD and LLM degrees. He went to work at firms in Cleveland and Cincinnati. He joined the faculty at Northern Kentucky University Law School for a short stint before coming to John Marshall.
Over the years, he wrote in the areas of administrative law, family law, legal ethics and trade regulation, and spoke on various law-related panels, including the Circuit Court of Cook County’s DUI Symposium. “He was a jock, he lettered in soccer at Case Western and I wore his
sweater,” remembered his wife, Joanne. As a parent, Zito started a soccer league in Naperville that grew to 14 teams. “He originated the Jack O’Lantern tournaments. He was a big organizer,” she said.
He also wrestled and played baseball in college, and remained a lifelong Cleveland sports fan. When he retired from the law school, Zito received a baseball autographed by Cleveland Indians player Rocky Colavito.
He is also survived by a son, Thaddeus (JD ’03), and three grandchildren.