Bill Fedullo was not just a devoted servant of the law but also a sweet guy and compassionate member of the Philadelphia community who devoted countless hours to public service. He was also a native Philadelphian, a proud Italian American and a former Chancellor of Philadelphia's Justinian Society of Italian American lawyers.
Bill was also an ardent liberal and as Chancellor of the Bar Association in 2014, he led the Association in speaking out in favor of marriage equality after a U.S. District judge struck down Pennsylvania’s same-sex marriage ban. He also led the association in supporting action on climate change and retained a keen interest in the city's public schools. At a time when Philadelphia the schools were struggling for funding, he made public education a priority, launching the Save Our Schools (SOS) campaign. The Bar Association advocated for more dedicated funding for schools; brought education leaders, stakeholders and experts together for a summit focused on solutions, and also created a program to pair law firms, individual attorneys and other organizations with local public schools to provide the schools with ongoing financial, program and volunteer support.
This was a man who was always engaged in the issues of the day and he would zealously take on all comers (including yours truly, more than once) to advance his cause. His passion was admirable and inspiring.
Bill is survived by his wife, former Philadelphia Bar Association Chancellor Rochelle M. Fedullo, and their son, William H. Fedullo, also an attorney. Bill and Shelly constituted one of Philadelphia's true "power couples" and they seemed ideally matched.
“He cared deeply about the Philadelphia community,” his son said. “He used his chancellorship to look beyond the legal world to do everything the Association could for a deeply and unjustly underfunded school district. As a plaintiff’s attorney, he was a model of care, compassion, and competence for his clients, a counselor at times of great pain and distress. Every day of my practice, I strive to match his model of loyalty and perseverance for my clients.”
A member of the Bar Association for 46 years, Fedullo served as chair of the Association’s Judicial Commission in 2004, 2009 and 2020, and was also two-time chair of the Campaign for Qualified Judges, the Association’s political action committee. The Commission works with the investigative teams to perform due diligence and issue recommendations for candidates for the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, Philadelphia Municipal Court and the statewide appellate courts.
Our friend Sayde Ladov aptly described Fedullo this way: “Bill had a very calm and steady hand in doing all of this, as he did with the Judicial Commission, as he did when he was Chancellor, and that truly was a hallmark of the man. He was just a calm, steady, forthright individual." Indeed, if Bill gave you his word on something you could bank on it.
Speaking for the Brandeis Law Society of Philadelphia, our friend Natalie Klyashtorny noted that in 2019, in recognition of all his accomplishments and service, Brandeis presented Bill with the annual Benjamin F. Levy Community Service Award. Klyashtorny called Fedullo "a wonderful friend and the consummate mensch".
Bill was a big guy and could seem to be imposing at first but he was simply a gentle giant. We remember preparing him for his Big Speech when he was installed as Chancellor of the Bar Association in 2014. An ardent baseball fan and player, Bill insisted on mentioning and acknowledging all the players on his team -- his "buddies" as he called them -- as part of his inaugural address. We cautioned Bill that it might detract from the core message of the speech and needlessly lengthen his remarks, but he would hear none of it. He was determined to personally thank as many people as he could directly from the podium. He did exactly that and the address was a heartfelt winner. That was Bill Fedullo!
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