William De Lorenzo, Jr., Esq., of 51 Long Hill Road, Oakland, NJ, was born in Hackensack, NJ, on January 8, 1929, the son of Edith and attorney William De Lorenzo, who was the first immigrant Italian to be elected to the New Jersey Assembly. William De Lorenzo, Jr., who enjoyed life, died on Monday, May 30, 2023, at the age of 94. In 1934, on a railroad trip to California with his father, they met Italian world heavyweight boxing champion Primo Canara, who picked up young Bill and had him punch Canara in the nose. He was educated in the Hackensack School system and played the violin in junior high and high school orchestras. He was a member of the Honor Society in high school. He sold magazines to buy a bicycle, including Woman’s Home Companion, Saturday Evening Post, Country Gentlemen, and Liberty. He received a BS in Chemistry from Union College in 1950, where he sang in the glee club and choir and played soccer and lacrosse, then received his LLB from Rutgers University School of Law in 1953. He then went on to active duty with the United States Marine Corps, in Quantico, Virginia, receiving a commission in September of 1953. He served as legal counsel at Cherry Point, NC, and as a greeter of visiting military dignitaries and as an Officer of the Day for the entire base. He served as company commander and then as Executive Officer of the Sixth Motor Transport Battalion that was called to active duty, during the Gulf War, to deliver munitions to the front lines. He retired from the Marine Corps in 1984 with the rank of Colonel.

He practiced law in Hackensack with his father, and in Oakland, NJ since 1956 and was admitted to all the New Jersey Federal Courts, the U.S. Tax Court, and the United States Supreme Court. He was qualified as a military trial counsel/defense counsel and was admitted to practice before the United States Court of Military Appeals. He was sent to Bermuda to defend a Marine charged with a court martial.

He was specially selected during various periods of time to work for the Board for the Correction of Naval Records in Washington, D.C., where he attended the National War College and has been assigned to such duties as handling the appeals for the officers of the American ship Pueblo, unlawfully captured by the North Koreans, claiming it was a “spy” ship. He also handled ship collisions. He served as a legal counsel to the Presidential Clemency Board in Washington, D.C. following the Vietnamese War. He served as the President of the Garden State Chapter of the Marine Corp. Reserve Officer’s Association and as a District Counselor to the National Organization. He also attended several military schools, including Staff and Command School; Naval Combat School; Amphibious Warfare School and war college and is a graduate of the Industrial War College.

He has been an avid collector of all forms of George Washington memorabilia from some time in the early 1970’s. He has given exhibitions over a period of years, lectured on the memorabilia and their relationship to the history of the United States and George Washington. His exhibition in Oakland in February of 1995 showed a very large display for a four-day show, commemorating the 300th anniversary of the founding of the Borough of Oakland, NJ. This received both local, national, TV and newspaper coverage, with articles as far away as the state of Germany. The inauguration issue of “George” magazine recognized him for his collection. He has authored an e-book describing and picturing over 5,000 collectibles of George Washington entitled “The Search of George Washington: A Pictorial Journey”. The largest item that he owned was donated to Mount Vernon. It is the centerpiece from the S.S. George Washington, a German ship commissioned in 1912, depicting a large bronze oval made by Tiffany and Co, in 1909. He donated a large heroic George Washington bust to the aircraft carrier U.S.S. George Washington. He and his wife attended the inauguration of that ship. Mr. De Lorenzo has been actively involved in many civic and professional organizations throughout his life and is a Past President of most of those organizations.

During his youth, he collected marbles, political buttons, toy soldiers, baseball cards, comic books, coins, stamps, war cards, Dixie cup tops with pictures of movie stars, toy trains and American Indian arrowheads. He was very active in Scouting, obtaining the rank of Eagle Scout with five palms and selected to be a member of the Order of the Arrow. He served as Scoutmaster and Director of Handcrafts at Camp No-Be-Bosco and Camp Master in Camp Manhattan in New York. He served as a Merit Badge Counselor for many years for several badges.

He has served as Chairman of the Hackensack Red Cross Drive, Warden of St. Alban’s Church, Oakland/Franklin Lakes, where he sang in the choir. Both he and his wife received lifetime achievement awards from the Episcopal church; he was Chairman of the Oakland Student Aid Fund; Chairman, Oakland Boy Scout Fund Drive; President, Oakland Republican Club; President, Oakland Rotary Club; Member, Oakland Historical Society; and Chairman, Election Day Run for the Hackensack Chamber of Commerce. He served as Institutional Representative; Troop 10 Boy Scouts, Christ Church, Hackensack.

He was Planning Board Attorney and Borough Attorney in Oakland; Bogota School Board attorney; Little Ferry School Board attorney and Board of Adjustment attorney; President, Lawyers Club of Bergen County. He was President of the Hackensack Young Republican Club, a member of the Bergen County Republican Club and elected Bergen County Committeeman from the Borough of Oakland, and President of the Oakland Republican Club. He served on the Oakland Industrial Commission and Ethics Committee.

His wife, Anne Lindstrom, whom he married in 1954, predeceased him after 65 years of marriage. They had four children. His son, William Thor De Lorenzo and son-in-law John Tocko pre-deceased him. Surviving are his daughter Diana Lynn Tocko and her three children, Jessica Merrill and her husband Cliff, and great-grandsons, Quint Merrill and Tuck Merrill; John Tocko, Jr. and Stephanie Tocko; and his sons, Paul E. De Lorenzo, Esq. and Keith C. De Lorenzo, and his wife, Heather, and Keith’s children Kyle De Lorenzo and Kelsey De Lorenzo.

He loved his many friends from both high school and college. He attended his college reunion every five years.

He loved good music and had a record collection of 78 rpm (WWII) and 33 1/3 rpm LP’s (of operas and famous soloists). In his later years, he enjoyed Andre Reiu.

Originally a Revolutionary War buff, he and his wife Anne travelled to 82 islands and countries. He had learned the basics of a few languages, making their trips more enjoyable. He was a photography buff and took hundreds of pictures in their travels which are stored in albums for the benefit of his family.

He served as legal counsel to the Friends of the Hermitage, and as President of the Union College Alumni Association of Bergen County.

He is a member of Phi Delta Phi, a legal fraternity. He served as Prosecutor and Assistant City Attorney, City of Hackensack; Attorney for the Westwood Consolidated Board of Education; Special Counsel: Borough of Emerson; Borough of Montvale; Board of Education, Palisades Park; Attorney for the Bogota Board of Education; Attorney for the Little Ferry Board of Education and Zoning Board of Adjustment. He was Planning Board Attorney and Municipal attorney for Oakland and served as the Borough Attorney for Maywood; He served on The Bergen County Municipal Law Committee, was a member of the New Jersey State and Federal Bar Associations; President of the Lawyers Club of Bergen County; He was a member of the New Jersey Trial Lawyers Association; The Association of Trial Lawyers of America; Institute of Municipal Attorneys, National Institute of Municipal Law Officers; New Jersey State Association of School Attorneys. He was Parliamentarian and General Counsel to the New Jersey State Young Republican Cub. He served as President of Alpha Phi Omega, a scouting fraternity.

He was a member of the Bergen County Bar Association and Chairman of its Bicentennial Committee. While searching through old county records, he discovered a copy of the hand-written indictment of Aaron Burr for the dueling death of Alexander Hamilton. He was appointed a Colonel in the New Jersey Colonial Militia by Governor Brendan Byrne in 1976. He also served as Chairman of the Bergen County Bar Association and Municipal Law Committee and Juvenile Conference Committees and as a member of the Necrology Committee.

He was Chairman of Oakland’s Bicentennial Committee in 1976 where all participants in the parade, with 14 marching bands, wore colonial costumes. A special booklet was issued with colonial type ads and a specially designed coin.

Interested in his children as an adoring father, he sent them all to summer camp. He also served as coach for the Oakland youth football and soccer and a referee for baseball games. He took both his children and grandchildren to Italy and surrounding countries.

He loved sports and he had season tickets for the New York Giants. He was a whiz at badminton. He was a member of Oakland’s Men’s Sunday softball team. He played team tennis at night; would race canoes standing on its gunnels. He ran several miles some mornings before breakfast. He could swim a long distance underwater.

One evening, Dad brought me to a basketball game between the Oakland Chamber of Commerce and the Harlem Diplomats. A chamber member failed to show, and they dragged Dad out of the stands and got him a set of sneakers. Dad was about to open the game faced by his 6’6” opponent, who stepped aside to permit dad to shoot a basket the length of the court, which Dad did, and the ball went into the basket. Just at the end of the game, dad’s opponent, on the winning team, threw the ball to him at one end of the court and challenged him to shoot another basket. Dad did and the ball went in for his second perfect score the length of the court.

He was President of the Oakland Student Aid Fund; director for the Lenni Lenape Girl Scouts council and served as legal counsel to that organization as well as for the Oakland First Aid Squad. He was a lover of fine music and good food.

In 1964, Mr. De Lorenzo ran for Mayor of the Borough of Oakland, as a Republican, and lost by 11 votes. This was the same year where Lyndon Johnson beat Barry Goldwater and was elected President of the United States.

He has spoken at many public meetings including a speaker at the Bergen County Courthouse on Veteran’s Day and represented the Marine Corps at various functions, including July 4th activities in Paramus for a number of years.

He was named a Paul Harris Fellow in Rotary International by his club and made a member of the Walter D. Head Foundation.

He was an adoring and generous father. He had a routine of early morning running, several days every week. One year, he ran over 500 miles. He even had a hole-in-one playing golf. He visited museums all over the world. As a teenager, he joined the Montclair Mounted Troop, Junior Cavalry of America and he rode horses bareback, also standing on top of a pyramid of three horses.

Mr. De Lorenzo was a member of the law firm of De Lorenzo and De Lorenzo until his retirement in 2019, while his son, Paul, continues to practice in the firm, which began when his father, William De Lorenzo, began practice in 1909. The firm was the oldest continuing law firm in Bergen County at the time of his retirement.

He wrote a poem for each holiday and for each member of the family’s birthday, including poems for friends, which he cherished. In his last years he worked on crossword puzzles and read many books.

He was proud to serve America as a U.S. Marine. He was pleased to have been Oakland’s Grand Marshall for a Memorial Day Parade. He was proud to be a member of the Marine Corps League and American Legion.

Friends and family may visit the De Lorenzo family on Thursday, June 1, 2023, from 2-4 PM and 7-9 PM at the Vander Plaat-Vermeulen Memorial Home, 530 High Mountain Road, Franklin Lakes, NJ. Funeral service to be held on Friday, June 2, 2023, at 1 PM at the funeral home. Interment to follow at Hackensack Cemetery, Hackensack, NJ.

In lieu of flowers, please consider donating in William’s name to the Oakland First Aid Squad, P.O. Box 5, Oakland, NJ 07436.