Niro Law founder dies
Raymond P. Niro, formerly of Arlington Heights and founder of Chicago-based Niro Law, was being mourned this week after he died Monday of an apparent heart attack while on vacation in Italy. He was 73.
Niro founded Niro Law in 1976. He had represented corporate and individual clients in more than 250 intellectual property cases and successfully tried patent, trademark, trade secret and copyright cases in courts nationwide, the firm's website said.
Niro, who lived in Arlington Heights from 1969 until 2008, dedicated his career to representing the individual inventor and the underdogs of American innovation. Some of his cases have included a $75.5 million award in a trade secret suit against a snowmobile manufacturer and its engine supplier; a $48 million patent and trade secret suit against an ink manufacturer; a $16 million award in a trade secret case about precooked Italian sausage; a $20 million patent infringement award against Square D Co.; and a $12 million verdict against Glenayre for an individual inventor regarding voice mail systems, the firm said.
"American inventors have lost their greatest champion," said Dean Niro of Arlington Heights, Raymond Niro's son and law firm partner.
Niro was born in Pittsburgh on Dec. 6, 1942. His father was a bricklayer and Ray was proud of his working-class roots as the child of Italian immigrants. That background influenced him to represent the "little guys," his firm said.
As Niro said, "I never forgot where I came from."
Niro graduated from the University of Pittsburgh, with high honors, in chemical engineering in 1964. He received his juris doctor from the George Washington University Law School in 1969, where he graduated with honors and was a member of the Law Review.
This year, he was named an Intellectual Property Trailblazer by the National Law Journal and an Icon of IP, or intellectual property, by Law360. The National Law Journal also named him one of the 10 best trial lawyers in the country in 1997. The American Lawyer in 2013 named him one of the Top 50 Big Law Innovators of the past 50 years.
Of all the accolades he received, Niro was most proud of the many letters from grateful clients whose lives he changed for the better, his firm said.
He funded an amphitheater in his name at the George Washington University Law School in 2008 and, in 2010, created the Niro Lecture Hall at the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering. He also endowed the Raymond P. Niro Professorship at DePaul University College of Law in 1999.
Niro is survived by his children Dean Niro of Arlington Heights, Raymond Niro, Jr. of Barrington, Brian Niro of Arlington Heights and Sean Niro of Chicago, and 12 grandchildren. He also remained close to his ex-wife Judy Niro of Arlington Heights.
Visitation is from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday at Glueckert Funeral Home, 1520 N. Arlington Heights Road, Arlington Heights. The funeral is Thursday at St. James Catholic Church, 831 N. Arlington Heights Road, Arlington Heights. Interment is at All Saints Cemetery.