Robert Morvillo, prominent Rockville Centre attorney, dies

Robert G. Morvillo, a prominent defense attorney, died in his sleep in his Rockville Centre home on Saturday, where he had been recovering from recent surgery.

The New York trial lawyer, with the firm of Morvillo, Abramowitz, Grand, Iason, Anello & Bohrer, pioneered the practice of white-collar criminal defense, and his client list of high-profile celebrities, politicians and businessmen included Martha Stewart in her trial on obstruction-of-justice relating to illegal stock trading, John A. Zaccaro, the husband of the late vice-presidential candidate Geraldine A. Ferraro in a bribery case and Maurice R. Greenberg, the former chief of AIG, in his court battles with then-Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.

Robert Guy Morvillo was born in Brooklyn on Jan. 22, 1938 and grew up in Rockville Centre. He is a graduate of Colgate University and Columbia University Law School, where he was an editor of the Law Review. He is survived by his wife of 48 years, Catherine (nee: Shields) four sons, Christopher (Neda), Gregory (Dawn), E. Scott (Deborah) and Robert (Kendra); and 10 grandchildren. He was the brother of Richard (Susan) Morvillo and is also survived by many nieces and nephews.

Morvillo has been lying in repose at Macken Mortuary, 52 Clinton Ave. A funeral Mass is set for Dec. 28 at 10 a.m. at St. Agnes Cathedral. In lieu of flowers, his family said that donations to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital or the Inner-City Scholarship Foundation, 1011 1st Ave., 14th Floor, New York, NY 10022, would be appreciated.