Donato Evangelista

September 10, 1932 - June 23, 2020

Donato Angelo Evangelista, 87, died June 23rd at his home in Wellington, Florida. Dan was born in Port Chester, New York in 1932, and spent his young life in Mamaroneck, NY. In 1954, he graduated with a BS from the University of Rochester and went on to receive a JD from Cornell University in 1957. Dan spent his career in corporate law starting with Taft, Stettinius and Hollister, in Cincinnati, Ohio, then moving on to Dewey, Ballantine, Bushby, Palmer, and Wood in New York City. From there he joined IBM in 1961. After a long and successful career at IBM he retired as General Council in 1996. Dan survived by his wife Mary whom he married in 1953; his children, Julia Mazurak, Lynn Evangelista, and Scott Evangelista; his younger brother Angelo; and his grandchildren Emily and Elise Mazurak, and Bill, Tom and Dan Evangelista. Dan had a great love of the water starting with sail boats on the Atlantic Ocean. After retirement he spent summers in the Pacific Northwest navigating around and living on a boat he had built and named after his father-in-law, Edwin S. Dawson. He will be remembered for the many people he helped through education or just with their everyday existence. He established scholarships at Cornell Law for students needing a helping hand and created the rare books library for the University in the name of his father-in-law. The administration offices in the law school were donated by him in the name of his parents. He literally spent a life time helping others. As Dan was not fond of funerals, there will be no memorial or funeral service. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in his memory to the Cornell Law School. This can be done online at giving.cornell.edu or by sending a check to: Cornell University, Box 37334, Boone, IA 50037-0334.