Judge Dominick E. Olivito

OLIVITO, Judge Dominick E., age 87, of Steubenville, Ohio, passed away surrounded by his loving family on Thursday, July 2, 2009, at Trinity West following an extended illness, MDS/sedero blastic anemia.

He was born in Wendel, West Virginia, Oct. 2, 1921, to the late Antonio and Caterina Olivito.

After graduating from Morgantown High School in 1939 he attended West Virginia University and enlisted in the United States Army, receiving military training under the V8 program.

He graduated with a B.A degree in history in the spring of 1943 and that same day departed for active military service.

After completing his military training at Fort Benning, Ga., he departed for England early in 1944.

Judge Olivito served as an infantryman and mortarman with the 92nd Chemical Mortar battalion as part of the First and Ninth Armies, XIX Corp during WWII, European Theatre Operations.

He stormed Omaha Beach, Normandy, France, on the early morning of June 6, 1944 attached to the infamous 29th Division.

The following morning he was seriously wounded, evacuated to England, returning to his unit six weeks later and participated in the Saint Lo breakout followed by the Battles at Mortain, Falasie Gap, Battle of the Bulge/Malmedy, Aachen/Siegfreid Line, Aleneon, Hurtgen Forest, Ruhr River Pocket, crossings of the Roar, Rhine, Weser and Elbe Rivers.

On April 13, 1945 Judge Olivito's company advanced within 60 miles of Berlin when halted to await the arrival of the Russian Army from the east.

Prior to departing Germany he served as Mayor (Burgomeister) of the famed city of Hamilin, Germany, home of the legendary Pied Piper of Hamilin.

Judge Olivito was selected Veteran of the Year, 2008, by the Jefferson County Service Commision.

Following his military service Judge Olivito attended law school at West Virginia University and Cleveland Marshall College of Law, Cleveland, Ohio, where he graduated in 1948.

He continued his legal education by attending the American Academy of Judicial Education at Harvard University and Miami University Law School.

He attended and instructed at the National Judicial College of the University of Nevada.

He began a general practice of law in 1949 in Steubenville.

He was the Jefferson County Judge, Dillonvale, Ohio, 1959, and was elected Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney 1964-1970. Judge Olivito was elected in 1970 and served 27 years as Judge of the Jefferson County Common Pleas Court.

Judge Olivito enjoyed a well-earned reputation as a fair and competent state trial judge throughout the state of Ohio.

Upon special appointment by the Ohio Supreme Court he sat as a trial judge on difficult criminal and civil cases in 81 of Ohio's 88 counties and on the Seventh and 10th District of Appeals.

After mandatory retirement in 1997 he continued serving as a visiting trial judge in other Ohio counties until 2004.

Judge Olivito was a member of the American Bar Association, Jefferson County Bar, Ohio State Bar Association, American Judges Association, the American Judicature Society, American Trial Judges Association, Ohio Common Pleas Court Association, American Justinan Society of Jurists and the National Judicial College.

He served as a member of the American Judges Delegation to the Peoples Republic of China visiting the countries of China, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan.

He was a past president of the Steubenville Rotary Club and received Rotary's prestigious Paul Harris Fellowship Award.

He was a member of American Legion Post 557, Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 232, Amvets Post 275, Italian-American Cultural Club, Knights of Columbus Council 472, Columbus Club, the Italian Sons and Daughters of America, Weirtonian Club, Forty and Eight Society, Volture 442, Polish-American Club, Moose, and Jefferson Sportsman Association.

Judge Olivito valued his humble 1920-1930 beginnings in the rural West Virginia's coal mining villages as the fifth child of seven children born to Italian immigrant parents who he loved and revered.

As a young boy he learned carpentry, farming, gardening, hunting, animal husbandry and the playing of the guitar and mandolin.

He began his days milking the family's cow, then attending a one-room schoolhouse and studying by a kerosene lamp at night.

He loved bluegrass, country, classical and operatic music, history, politics, legal work and his family, especially his grandchildren.

Judge Olivito was preceded in death by his parents, Antonio and Caterina Olivito, his brothers John and Anthony Olivito, and his sisters Daisy Riggs and Rose Rosenstein.

Surviving are his wife of 60 years Theresa E. (Kalinowski) Olivito; four children and their spouses, Joyce and Robert Skopek, Judge Dominick E. Olivito, Jr. and his wife Cynthia, Anthony C. Olivito and Attorney Richard A. Olivito; eight grand children, Aaron, Shauna and Bryant Skopek, Dominick John, Jonathan Nathaniel and Kimberly Olivito, Liza Burnett and Joshua Olivito, two great grandchildren, nineteen nieces and nephews and their spouses, brother Attorney Peter S. Olivito and his wife Martha and sister Joann Birurakis and her husband Louis, and sister-in-law Rose Burchfield and husband Harry.

The family extends appreciation to all family, friends, neighbors and the numerous health care providers who prayed and cared for Judge Olivito during his illness, in particular Trinity West doctors, nurses and staff at Same Day Surgery, Emergency Room, Seventh Floor, Doctors Luara Alvez, Otilia Asuncion, Brijinder S. Kochhar, Charn S. Nandra, Edgar Sanchez, Dominic Ferrera, Michael Haut and Staff of Canton, Ohio and Country Club Manor nurses and aides.

Calling hours are Monday 6-8 p.m., Tuesday 2-4 and 6-8 p.m. at the Mosti Funeral Home, Sunset Chapel, 4435 Sunset Blvd., Steubenville.

Vigil Service Tuesday 3:45 p.m.

A Funeral Liturgy with Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Wednesday, at Blessed Sacrement Church, Wintersville, Msg. Kurt Kemo as celebrant.

Burial to follow at Mt. Calvary Cemetery.

Donations may be made in memory of Judge Olivito to Blessed Sacrement Church, St. Jude Hospital, Aplastic Anemia and MDS International Foundation Inc., at www.aamds.org, or the Trinity Foundation for either the Renal Unit or Teramana Cancer Center at www.trinityhealth.com.

Offer condolences at www.mostifuneralhome. com.