John Paul Gamino

He graduated from Bishop McGuinness High School in 1968 and went on to earn degrees from Rutgers University–New Brunswick (BA), the University of Oklahoma College of Law (JD), and the University of Miami School of Law (LLM). He served in the Peace Corps and also became a CPA.

As an attorney, John was admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States and devoted the majority of his professional career to practicing tax law. In his later years, he found new joy in teaching, primarily at New York University and the University of Texas at Dallas.

A voracious reader, John used his free time to write book reviews for several newspapers. He loved literary classics and classical music. He was equally intrigued by other curiosities of the world—medieval battlefields, ghosts, Bigfoot, and UFOs among them.

John is survived by his wife, Jacquelyn; their son and daughter; and their respective spouses. He is also survived by six of his seven siblings, numerous in-laws, and a vast, exuberant extended family. He was preceded in death by his parents, his youngest sister, and a sister-in-law.

In John’s final months, he spoke often of Dylan Thomas’s well-known villanelle, the concluding lines of which he wished to be shared herein:

“Do not go gentle into that good night.

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”

A celebration in honor of John’s life, open to all, will be held on July 12 at 2:00 p.m. at Sparkman/Hillcrest Funeral Home in Dallas, TX. In lieu of flowers, donations in John’s memory may be made to Sesame Street’s Sesame Workshop (sesameworkshop.org) or the PBS Foundation (foundation.pbs.org).