First lay president of education board dies
By Christie L. Chicoine
CS&T Staff Writer
William D. Valente, the first lay president of the board of education for the Philadelphia Archdiocese, a professor emeritus of Villanova Law School and a nationally recognized scholar of constitutional and education law, died of complications from cancer July 30. He was 83.
“He was a teriffic father,” said his daughter Christina Valente. “He spent a lot of time with us.” Among other games, he taught his children how to play tennis. “He was a very hands-on father,” Christina Valente added. “The grandkids loved him, too. He knew how to communicate with children.”
An early and lifelong proponent of school choice and a major figure in Catholic education circles, Valente was a founder and later president of Citizens for Educational Freedom, an advocacy group that won major victories by securing textbooks and bus transportation for private and parochial school students in Pennsylvania.
He also drafted legislation, passed as part of the 1967 Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Act, which provided state aid for students at private colleges and universities.
Valente was president of the archdiocesan board of education from 1967 to 1970, and had also served on the advisory committee of the National Catholic Educational Association.
He was associate counsel in briefs of several school funding cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, including Lemon vs. Kurtzman (1971) which established the “Lemon” test for state aid to religious institutions; Lemon vs. Sloan (1973) and Meek vs. Pittenger (1975).
In 1978, Valente testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance and the U.S. House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee regarding tuition tax credits for students at private and parochial schools.
Valente also served on the boards of several Catholic colleges and private schools. In recognition of his service, Pope John Paul II named him a Knight of the Order of St. Gregory the Great in 1982. In 1985, the St. Thomas More Society of Philadelphia selected him for the St. Thomas More Award, which recognizes a member of the legal community who best exemplifies Judeo-Christian principles in the practice of his profession.
A native of South Philadelphia, Valente was the youngest of 12 children of Italian immigrants, the late Antonio and Antoinette Valente.
He graduated from St. Rita of Cascia School and Southeast Catholic Boys’ High School in Philadelphia. In 1947, he received a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Pennsylvania. Two years later, he graduated from Penn Law School, where he became the first Italian-American editor-in-chief of the law review.
He also held an honorary doctor of laws degree from Villanova University.
Valente and his wife Elizabeth would have celebrated 57 years of marriage in December. “He adored my mother,” Christina Valente said. “They had a great marriage.”
The Valentes raised four children in Presentation B.V.M. Parish in Wynnewood and St. John Neumann Parish in Bryn Mawr. At the time of his death, Valente was a member of St. Patrick Parish in Center City Philadelphia.
After two judicial clerkships, Valente entered private practice and later became an assistant city solicitor and a partner with Mesirov, Gelman, Jaffe, and Levin. He was an innovator in the use of deed restrictions to shape the character of city neighborhoods undergoing revitalization, including Society Hill in Philadelphia.
Valente began his tenure as a law professor at Villanova University in 1965. He retired in 1994.
“He was a really principled man and he accomplished an enormous amount in his life,” Christina Valente said.
Father Daniel E. Mackle celebrated Valente’s funeral Mass Aug. 2 at St. Patrick Church. Auxiliary Bishop Robert P. Maginnis attended and presided at the rite of commendation.
In addition to his wife Elizabeth and daughter Christina, he is survived by two sons, Joseph and Andrew; another daughter, Claire Valente; five grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews.
Interment was at SS. Peter and Paul Cemetery, Springfield.
CS&T Staff Writer Christie L. Chicoine may be reached at (215) 587-2468 or cchicoin@adphila.org.
Compiled by
Angela Arrington
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