Mario A. Iorillo

1939 - 2022 Mario Angelo Iorillo died April 13, 2022 in Santa Monica, California after a brief hospitalization, in the loving company of his children and carried aloft by the love and best wishes of his friends, neighbors, colleagues and golf buddies.

He enjoyed excellent health and fitness for most of his 82 years, carrying a full bag of clubs on foot for a round of golf nearly every day for decades, and hiking beloved trails from Southern California to Alaska to the Via Francigena in Italy even recently.

Mario was born in Southington, Connecticut and graduated from Cheshire Academy, Cornell University, where he played the saxaphone and majored in Philosophy, and Harvard Law School. He launched the long arc of his legal career as Deputy District Attorney for Stanislaus County at the age of 26, then moved his young family to Los Angeles where he built a strong reputation as a trial attorney. He was partner and of counsel to prestigious Los Angeles firms and created his own practice, Iorillo & Karp, which thrived for over 25 years.

Mario and his wife Barbara raised three children, put them through the finest schools, and proudly saw them realize success in their own lives, careers, and marriages.

A quiet man of deep passions, Mario applied his sharp intellect and powerful concentration to the study of Italian language, literature and fine red wines, classical and jazz music, and particularly the art and science of golf. He was a member of Riviera Country Club for 50 years, where in his prime he played under a 10 handicap and taught his kids to drive in a dirt parking lot on the premises which must have violated several regulations. Dusk was his time to play, sharing the golden hour with the birds and coyotes, the fragrance of eucalyptus, and our gentle ocean-cooled evening air.

Although he was not raised speaking Italian, in retirement Mario became an enthusiastic student and worked his way to fluency through language classes at the Italian Cultural Institute in Westwood, where he cultivated sincere friendships and binders of notes on the Italian classics he was able to read. He delighted his mother in her later years by keeping his promise to converse with her in the old language, and traveled to Italy several times on his own, in the company of his daughter, and with his son and son-in-law.

Mario leaves behind his brother Anthony, and his three children Jeffrey, Nicole, and Christopher, all of Los Angeles. He was a longtime charitable donor, with a special fondness for The Boys and Girls Club of America. Our grief over his passing is eased by the knowledge that he lived and died exactly as he wished, and we take comfort in the many healthy years we enjoyed with him.