John George Lancione

Cleveland Attorney John G. Lancione led an international legal group and won eight-digit awards for clients: news obituary

John George Lancione passed away peacefully on Thursday September 8, 2022, surround by his children at his home on Catawba Island. He was 87.

John G. Lancione won eight-figure verdicts for his injured clients and was President of the International Society of Barristers in 1998.

Lancione won a $17 million dollar jury verdict for a child who suffered brain damage at Cincinnati Children's Hospital in 1992. This was the largest jury verdict in a medical malpractice case in Ohio at the time.

Lancione was born in Bellaire, Ohio to a family of lawyers. He was the oldest of three sons, all of whom were lawyers. His father, A. G. Lancione, served in the Ohio General Assembly from 1947 to 1978 and was Speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives from 1973 to 1975.

Lancione attended Bellaire High School where he excelled in track and football and drove a truck that carried dynamite as a part time job. He then attended Ohio University where he played running back, earned his bachelor’s degree in Economics, and met his wife, Mary Jo Battaglia. After earning his law degree from The Ohio State University College of Law in 1959, he joined the Cleveland law firm of Harrison, Spangenberg & Hull. He quickly distinguished himself as a premier trial advocate for the injured and became a named partner in Spangenberg, Shibley, Traci & Lancione.

In 1977 he won a landmark legal decision in the United States Supreme Court on behalf of Hugo Zacchini, “The Human Cannonball” versus Scripps-Howard Broadcasting, Co, where for the first time the Court recognized that a performer has a Constitutionally protected right to publicity under the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the US Constitution. It is one of the most widely cited cases in American civil jurisprudence.

Mr. Lancione established the Lancione Family Scholarship at St. Ignatius High School in Cleveland. Lancione and his two brothers established The A. G. Lancione Endowed Chair at Capital University Law School in Columbus Ohio. His philanthropic gifts benefitted many Cleveland area charities, including Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in the Detroit-Shoreway area of Cleveland where he and his wife Mary Jo were wed in 1957.

Lancione retired in 2007 to his home on Catawba Island where he enjoyed spending time with his wife, children, and grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his wife of 59 years and is survived by his four children Lisa (Reece), Cathy, John (Anne), Jenny (Jeff), 11 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren.

Private family memorial on Catawba Island. Donations may be made to https://www.alz.org/. Online condolences may be expressed at www.walkerfuneralhomes.com

The Gerner-Wolf-Walker Funeral Home and Crematory, 216 Washington Street, Port Clinton, Ohio assisted the family.