Lewis John Ottaviani

Lewis J. Ottaviani, 94, of Venice, Florida and formerly of Bartlesville, Oklahoma, San Antonio, Texas, and the Washington D.C. area, a loving, compassionate and devoted husband, dad and pops, died on September 28, 2019, at Pinebrook Center. He has been a resident of Venice since October 1999. He was born on May 24, 1925, to Mary C. (Gambale) Ottaviani and Salvatore Ottaviani in Mansfield, MA and was pre-deceased by his parents and three sisters: Eleanor Marie Ottaviani, Doris Jean Gaudreau, and Carol Ann Ottaviani. He is survived by his best friend and lovingly devoted wife of 66 years, Margaret (Peggy); daughters: Karen O. Miles of Chillicothe, OH and Anne O. Rice and husband Pat of Conroe, TX; two sons: Mark L. and wife Becky of Edmond, OK, and Jack P. and his wife Vickie of Tulsa, OK; fourteen grandchildren; nine great-grandchildren, and 2 great-great-grandchildren; numerous nieces and nephews; one brother Bill and his wife Gail of Mansfield MA, as well as a brother-in-law Paul Muhs and his wife Irene of Farmingdale, NY; and a sister-in-law Ann Bertoli of Milledgeville, GA.

Ottaviani was reared in Mansfield, MA and upon graduating from Monsignor Coyle High School in Taunton, MA in 1943 he entered the Army of the United States. He served in various areas; the last deployment being a detached service from the 30th engineer to the Iwo Jima campaign with intel/recon. ariel photographer responsibilities. He was awarded the Army Commendation medal, the Presidential Citation, the Meritorious Service Wreath, the Asiatic Pacific Campaign Ribbon (with battle star), the American Theatre Campaign Ribbon, the Victory Medal and the Good Conduct Medal. In February of 1946, he was honorably discharged as a Staff Sergeant.

In 1951 he earned a BA degree with honors majoring in philosophy and economics, from Kings College, Wilkes-Barre, PA, and in 1954 a J.D. degree from Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, D.C. On June 13, 1953, Lew married Margaret (Peggy) Ann Muhs of Floral Park, N.Y. at Our Lady of Victory Church. The celebrant was Reverend Edward Muhs, Peggy's brother. Lew and Peggy had met in college as juniors when Lew was a Regional Vice President of the National Federation of Catholic College Students and Peggy was a Regional Commission Chair. Following a Bermuda honeymoon, they settled in Washington, D.C. Peggy became a business representative from the Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company and Lew resumed studies at Georgetown while working part-time on Capitol Hill as a "gofer" for the Speaker of House of Representatives. Their first child, daughter Karen, was born on September 20, 1954.

In 1954, armed with his J.D., Lew joined the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice as a Trial Attorney Preparatory General. During his tenure, he participated in legal precedent-setting mergers, and monopoly and price-fixing litigation for the Special Litigation Section. In 1965 he resigned as Assistant Chief and Supervisory Senior Trial Attorney of the Special Litigation Section to join Phillips Petroleum Company in Bartlesville, OK as a Senior Counsel. He retired from Phillips in 1985 as Assistant General Counsel. During his professional career, Lew had at least one legal matter in forty of the United States, plus the District of Columbia, Brussels and The Hague. He was a member of the District of Columbia and Oklahoma Bar Association and a member of eight U.S. Court of Appeals, as well as a member of the United States Court of Military Appeals. For a period, he served on the Antitrust and Trade Regulation Commission of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. In 1983, by invitation, he was a participant in a working party on the extraterritorial application of the United States anti-trust law as sponsored by the American Chamber of Commerce (United Kingdom) and chaired by the Honorable Kingman Brewster (former Ambassador of the United States of the Court of St. James).

Over the years Ottaviani was active with arts and humanities, church, civic, and fraternal activities. He was a life member and past Grand Knight of Knights of Columbus Counsel 224 in Washington, D.C. and served St. John's Church, Bartlesville, OK as a lay minister and lector. For years, Lew and Peggy jointly conducted Confraternity of Christian Doctrine classes for junior and senior high school students. Lew has been active in The Venice Theater (formerly Venice Little Theater) both as an actor and backstage as a manager. At Kings College, he was a member and president of The Kings Glee Club. At the request of a Judge responsible for juvenile cases, Lew organized and presided over the training of non-lawyers to be Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASAS), who represented the best interests of abused children (sexual, physical, and emotional) in the Washington County, OK court system. He was also a member and president of the homeowner's associations in Bartlesville, OK, and Venice, FL. He also served as member and president of the Advisory Councils. He was a member of the Hillcrest Country Club in Bartlesville, OK, and Mission Valley and Jacaranda Country Clubs, both in Venice FL.

Services: Lew has requested to be cremated. A mass of Christian burial will take place at Epiphany Cathedral, 310 Sarasota St., Venice, Florida, October 25, at 11:00 a.m. Burial will be in Sarasota National Cemetery, 9810 State Road 72, Sarasota, Florida, October 25, at 1:30 p.m. In lieu of floral remembrances, donations can be made to a charity of your choice.