State of Massachusetts Tax Attorney J. Lee Riccardi, age 64 of West Roxbury, died in Boston on Wednesday, July 14, 2010, from pneumonia.
He was born in Brooklyn, New York, but spent his early years in postwar Vienna during reconstruction, part of a military family, where he developed a love of German language and Culture. His family eventually settled in Massachusetts, and he graduated from Framingham High School. His college studies were in Comparative Literature at Tulane University and the University of Chicago, followed by a law degree at Boston College, where he was a student writer for the Law Review. He served as a tax attorney for the Massachusetts Department of Revenue in the Rulings and Regulations Bureau for many years, working mainly in the areas of Sales Tax and Constitutional Law.
Lee was an accomplished poet, amateur pianist and composer. He was a scholar in architecture, history, music the ship Titanic, German and English literature, especially poetry, and he was actively involved in the study of Egyptology.
He is survived by his sister, Leslie Ricarrdi O’Neill of North Caldwell, New Jersey, stepmother Greta Riccardi of Chicago, and husband Thomas Gregg of West Roxbury. Lee and Tom were proud to be one of the first gay couples to be legally married in Massachusetts, on May 20, 2004, at the Arlington Street Church. He is preceded in death by his first partner, Peter J. Daly III.
No funeral or burial service will be held, but a private wake will be held at home during Labor Day weekend.
Memorial contributions may be made to the American Lung Association (www.lungne.org), the Museum of Fine Arts, especially to the Art of the Ancient World collection (www.mfa.org) or The Hall of Ma’ at web site (www.hallofmaat.com).