Fedullo was also three-time chair of the Association’s Commission on Judicial Selection and Retention
Former Chancellor William P. “Bill” Fedullo, a three-time chair of the Commission on Judicial Selection and Retention who used his year as Chancellor in 2014 to spearhead a legal community-wide effort to support public schools, has died.
“Bill Fedullo dedicated numerous hours of his time over multiple decades to serving the Philadelphia legal community through his work at the Philadelphia Bar Association,” said Chancellor Wesley R. Payne, IV. “He was a dedicated leader and volunteer with a broad vision for how our community can work collaboratively to promote justice and equality.”
As Chancellor in 2014, Fedullo 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 and in supporting action on climate change. He also spearheaded the Association’s opposition to a bill that would have cut the number of seats on the state Supreme and Superior courts and a measure to impose a tax on clients who seek legal services.
At a time when Philadelphia public 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.
“As lawyers, we know instinctively that justice and equality demand the promise of a quality education. Without it, the promise of opportunity and growth is a broken promise,” Fedullo wrote in the January 2014 edition of The Philadelphia Bar Reporter.
He is survived by his wife, former Chancellor Rochelle M. Fedullo, and their son, William H. Fedullo.
“He cared deeply about the Philadelphia community,” his son William H. Fedullo 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.
“He loved the Judicial Commission and to him what the Commission did was really, really important,” said Charlie Klitsch, the Bar Association’s longtime director of public and legal services. Klitsch, who retired in 2021, oversaw the Commission as part of his role.
In addition to Fedullo’s time as Chancellor and his work with the Judicial Commission, he also served as a member of the Association’s Board of Governors, a two-time co-chair of the State Civil Litigation Section, chair of the Brennan Award, Law Week and Lawyer Referral and Information Service (LRIS) committees, and as president of the Philadelphia Bar Association Historical Society.
“Bill had a very calm and steady hand in doing all of this, as he did with Judicial Commission, as he did when he was Chancellor, and that truly was a hallmark of the man,” said former Chancellor Sayde Ladov, who co-chaired the LRIS Committee with Fedullo. “He was just a calm, steady, forthright individual, but he was never far from being good-humored or cracking a joke.”
One of three children, Fedullo was born in Philadelphia and spent most of his childhood in Brigantine, N.J., before moving back to the city during high school. He majored in political science at Temple University and earned his law degree at Widener University in 1976. In addition to his involvement with the Bar Association, Fedullo was also a past Chancellor and board member of the Justinian Society, a board member of the Philadelphia Trial Lawyers Association, and a member of the House of Delegates of the Pennsylvania Bar Association. He was also a board member and past board chair for SeniorLAW Center.
