V. Donald Russo ’50

World War II U.S. Navy veteran V. Donald Russo ’50 had a distinguished and multifaceted career as a lawyer that included five years working tirelessly to help fellow veterans who had been affected by the toxic defoliant Agent Orange. 

After his military service, Russo attended Brown, St. John’s University School of Law, and NYU Graduate School of Law, then worked as a negligence trial attorney, eventually retiring with more than 60 years of experience at Allstate Insurance Company. He lectured at the Columbian Lawyers Association of Manhattan and the Civil Court of the City of New York, taught real estate law at Marymount Manhattan College, and developed a multitude of continuing legal education programs and training manuals.

A highlight of his career came in 1979, when he joined a consortium of plaintiffs’ lawyers from Long Island who undertook the prominent Agent Orange case, one of the largest product liability litigations in American legal history. For years he traveled to listen to interrogations and take depositions. His wife Christine Russo remembers when he returned from one such trip, exhausted, he told her: “When you listen to these fellas tell you about their illnesses, you forget about being sleepy and just keep going.” 

That was the hallmark of his approach to his work, she says: “He would prepare until he knew every fact of the case and it was hard to beat him.” 

The case was settled in 1984 and the Vietnam veterans were awarded medical and financial assistance. Russo was honored with an Award of Gratitude from the Veterans of Foreign Wars; his papers are part of the Brown Vietnam Veterans Archives.

Among other professional honors, in 1997 Russo was the recipient of the Individual Service Award from Allstate for his hard work, loyalty, and dedication to excellence in legal work. In his private life, he was an avid reader and enjoyed playing golf and working outdoors at his home in Northport, Long Island, as well as traveling with Christine and spending time at a family lake house in Vermont. He passed away on May 28. Survivors include a brother-in-law, a sister, two nephews, and a niece.