Representative Angelo Dominick Roncallo

Angelo Dominick Roncallo (May 28, 1927 – May 4, 2010) was an American lawyer, jurist, and Republican politician who served one term as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Nassau County, New York, from 1973 to 1975. Over the course of a public career that spanned local government, county administration, federal legislative service, and the state judiciary, he contributed to the legislative and judicial processes during a significant period in American history. He later served as a justice of the New York Supreme Court from 1977 to 1995.

Roncallo was born on May 28, 1927, in Port Chester, New York. He came of age during World War II and entered military service as a young man, serving in the United States Army from 1944 until 1945. His wartime service preceded a long professional life in law and public affairs and provided early exposure to national service and public responsibility.

After his military service, Roncallo pursued higher education in New York City. He graduated from Manhattan College in 1950, receiving a foundation in liberal arts that prepared him for legal training and public office. He then attended Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C., earning his law degree in 1953. His legal education in the nation’s capital placed him in proximity to the federal institutions in which he would later serve and equipped him for a career as an attorney and, eventually, as a judge.

Roncallo began his political career in local government on Long Island. He served as a town councilman for the Town of Oyster Bay, New York, from 1965 until 1967, participating in the governance of one of Nassau County’s major suburban communities during a period of rapid growth and development. Building on this experience, he was elected comptroller of Nassau County, New York, serving from 1968 until 1972. In that capacity he was responsible for overseeing the county’s finances and fiscal administration at a time when Nassau was one of the fastest-growing suburban counties in the United States. His rising profile within the Republican Party was reflected in his selection as a delegate to the 1972 Republican National Convention.

In 1972, Roncallo was elected to the United States House of Representatives as a Republican from Nassau County. He took office on January 3, 1973, and served in the 93rd Congress until January 3, 1975. His single term in Congress coincided with a consequential era in American politics, marked by the unfolding of the Watergate scandal and shifting national priorities in the aftermath of the Vietnam War. As a member of the House of Representatives, he participated in the democratic process and represented the interests of his New York constituents, contributing to the legislative work of the chamber. In the 1974 election, he ran unsuccessfully for re-election and was defeated by Democrat Jerome A. Ambro Jr., bringing his federal legislative service to a close after one term.

Following his departure from Congress, Roncallo continued his public service in the judiciary. In 1977 he was elected a justice of the New York Supreme Court, the state’s trial court of general jurisdiction, and he served on that court from 1977 until 1995. During nearly two decades on the bench, he presided over a wide range of civil and criminal matters, applying his legal training and prior governmental experience to the administration of justice in New York State. His long tenure reflected both professional stability and sustained public confidence in his judicial role.

Roncallo was for many years a resident of Massapequa, New York, a Nassau County community on Long Island that remained his home base throughout his political and judicial career. He died on May 4, 2010, closing a life marked by military service, local and county office, a term in the United States Congress, and extended judicial service on the New York Supreme Court.