Mario Anthony DiCesare

Mario Anthony DiCesare, Ph.D., a renowned professor of English and Comparative Literature, died on Friday, March 8, 2024 at the age of 95 at his home in Fairview, North Carolina. He is preceded in death by his older sister Julie DiCesare Vechiotti, brother Dominic DiCesare, and his life partner and big love, Lee Hoskins DiCesare. He is survived by nine children, including his five daughters, Marilyn DiCesare, Laura Dunaway, Elizabeth Madison, Sue DiCesare Arteaga, and Catherine DiCesare, and one son, Christopher DiCesare, with his first wife, Emily Bell, as well as two stepsons, Misha Kucherov and Sergei Kucherov, and one stepdaughter, Tanya Denckla Cobb. Mario also had many grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and numerous beloved nieces and nephews.

Born in 1928 in New York City, Mario’s parents Virginia DiPleco and Donato DiCesare were first-generation immigrants to New York City from the Abruzzo region in Italy. Mario grew up on the fifth floor of a walk-up on Sullivan Street in Greenwich Village. He studied Classics and learned Greek and Latin as a seminary student before eventually deciding to pursue the study of English literature. He attended Columbia University for graduate school, earning first an MA with a focus on James Joyce, and then completing his PhD on the Renaissance Latin poet Marcus Hieronymus Vida, all while teaching and starting a family.

After finishing graduate school, Mario moved to Binghamton, New York, to join the faculty at Harpur College, the liberal arts college that became part of the State University of New York at Binghamton (now Binghamton University), where he taught for some forty years. Mario had a celebrated career as an academic, eventually earning the rank of Distinguished Professor at SUNY Binghamton for his myriad contributions to the national and international scholarly community. His literary interests were wide-ranging, from Vergil to Shakespeare to John Milton and George Herbert. In his scholarship and in the classroom, Mario maintained an emphasis on close reading of the texts themselves. In addition to teaching and research, Mario launched the academic press Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies (MRTS) in 1985 (now at Arizona State University), with the goal of making high-quality scholarly texts more affordable. He served as General Editor of the press for a decade, with his wife Lee serving as publishing and production manager.

He was equally passionate about teaching, such that even after retiring to Asheville, North Carolina with Lee, he joined the faculty at the College for Seniors (later OLLI) at UNC Asheville.  With a devoted following among the seniors, he continued teaching his beloved Shakespeare, Dante, Herbert, Milton, and other favorite texts until the age of 90, when he was given a special recognition award by the university. One point of pride as a teacher was that always, every time he taught a class – even in retirement, and no matter how many years he had taught the same text — he always reread the work, always seeking a fresh point of view and starting each lecture from scratch.

Mario was larger than life, a fierce and fiery romantic warrior. His family and friends remember with love his outsized presence. He had a deep, rolling belly laugh and loved to tell stories for hours, laughing so hard and so loud that his shoulders would shake and he had to wipe tears from his eyes. He loved to debate, had a strong sense of morality, and wasn’t afraid to make his views known or argue a good cause.  If he wanted to make a point, got fired up about a literary passage, or even just wanted to get the attention of his nine children, he wouldn’t hesitate to pound his fist on the table and let his booming voice, bushy dark eyebrows, and fierce eyes quiet the room.

An incurable romantic, Mario found great love with his wife Lee, and they were inseparable for more than forty years. They shared an epic sense of adventure and loved to travel. Vacations, academic trips, and sabbaticals included England as well as Italy, which he adored; he and “Carolina” (as the relatives called Lee) reconnected with his extended family in the Abruzzo region and made trips to his beloved Florence whenever possible. Most would be daunted by the nine children of their blended families, but Mario was passionate about la famiglia – the family. He embraced and loved his nine children. There were family road trips, kids bundled in a big blue station wagon for camping trips on the island of Camelot in the Saint Lawrence Seaway, and lots of summer trips to Lee’s family home in Lakeville, CT. Some of the kids’ favorite memories include concerts at Tanglewood, canoeing and swimming at lakes, and cutthroat card games late into the night. Christmas visits involved festive parties full of laughter, friends, foods, caroling, and as guests departed always singing them out. Family gatherings saw dinners filled with wine, toasts, songs, good food, and stories long into the evening. His daughters remember him frequently, joyfully proclaiming in his big, booming voice, “I have five daughters!” (invoking Fiddler on the Roof), laughing and laughing.

The family dinners continued even as his health and memory declined, and at age 95, four generations were still talking and laughing at the long table. He fostered a cohesive extended family who continue to appreciate each other, and taught his family about what was really important in life – family, experiences, love. Mario DiCesare lived a distinguished, happy life, filled with curiosity, adventure, books, books, and more books – and, especially, great love. His family will miss him very much.

A Celebration of Life will be held June 1, at 11:00 a.m. at the Cathedral of All Souls, 7 Swan Street, Asheville, 28803.

For anyone wishing to make a donation in Mario’s name, please consider Caring For Children in memory of Mario DiCesare.  Mail to:  Caring for Children, 225 Chestnut St, Asheville, 28801.

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