Judge Antoinette Loiacono Dupont Cretella

Cretella, Judge Antoinette
Loiacono Dupont
Judge Antoinette L. Dupont, known to friends and family as Billie, passed away peacefully on Tuesday, September 2 at her home in Bloomfield, Connecticut. She was predeceased by her husband, Judge Albert J. Cretella Jr., of North Haven, Connecticut. She is survived by her two brothers, Vincent Loiacono and Anthony Loiacono; her children, Ellen Dupont, Antonia van der Meer, and William Dupont; seven grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.
Judge Dupont was born in New York City to the late Albert J. and Helen Utano Loiacono. The family moved to New London soon after. As a teenager, she worked in her father's pharmacy. After graduating from Williams Memorial Institute, Billie went to Pembroke College, part of Brown University, where she majored in political science. Judge Dupont went on to attend Harvard Law School as part of the second class of women ever accepted. She graduated in 1954.
Dupont began her legal career as co-counsel for "President Eisenhower's Commission on the Application of Federal Law to the Virgin Islands." She then went into private practice in New London; she worked at Suisman, Shapiro, & Wool before setting up her own firm.
Governor Ella Grasso appointed her to the bench in 1977 (Connecticut Superior Court). Six years later, Governor Thomas O'Neil elevated her to the Appellate Court. She served as Chief Judge from 1984 until taking senior status in 1997. As a judge, first in the Superior Court and then in the Appellate Court, Judge Dupont found her true calling. Her love of the law, her passion for legal research, and her flair for administration made her a brilliant judge. After stepping down as Chief Judge, she became a Judge Trial Referee and continued to hear cases until her late 80s. Her sense of fairness and her ability to foster a collegial atmosphere endeared her to everyone at the court.
Judge Dupont was not just a trailblazer and role model but a lifelong advocate of women's rights. She was a member of Zonta and the League of Women Voters. As a chairman of the Task Force on Gender Bias in the Connecticut Courts, she did ground-breaking work to make the courts fairer to women.
After a private family funeral, she was buried with her parents and grandparents in St. Mary's Cemetery, New London. Donations in her memory may be made to the League of Women Voters or the ACLU.