Richard Fabbro

Richard Fabbro, 70, passed away peacefully on April 11, 2025, after a sixteen-month battle with brain cancer with his family by his side.

Richard Mark Fabbro was born in Paterson, NJ on January 21, 1955, to Vilma and Aldo Fabbro. He grew up in Wayne, NJ and attended Wayne Hills High School along with his younger sisters, Janet and Suzanne. He excelled academically and his many extracurricular activities set the foundation for his lifelong enjoyment of endurance sports, music, and theater. He ran cross-country, played trombone in the school’s concert, marching, and jazz bands, and acted in musical theater performances.

Richard attended Yale (Branford College) from 1972-1976 earning a degree in Political and Economic Systems. He would remain involved with Yale throughout his life, attending reunions, interviewing applicants, and serving as Treasurer of the Yale Westchester Alumni Association.

After college, Richard attended Georgetown Law (JD 1982) in Washington, D.C. at night while working at the Consumer Product Safety Commision. He was inspired to specialize in Tax Law after learning from the brilliant Martin Ginsburg. In D.C., Richard met his future wife, Cecilia (Cece) Cooney at an inauguration party for Jimmy Carter. They married in 1983. The two shared a love of classical music, theater, movies, history, and reading.

The couple relocated to New York (Park Slope, Brooklyn) when Richard got a job as an attorney at Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, while attaining an LLM in Taxation from NYU Law. Cece and Richard soon had two daughters: Adriana (1985) and Rebecca (1987). In 1992, the family outgrew their apartment and settled in Westchester County. Despite his long hours at work, Richard was very involved in his daughters’ education and extracurriculars. He never missed a concert or field day and coached both daughters’ Rec basketball teams.

Richard left Davis Polk in 1996 to take on a new role as Tax Director with AIG Financial Products where he oversaw complex international deals. He remained at the firm for fourteen years. He came out of a very brief retirement to found Bretton Oaks Capital Management in 2011.

Richard was the proud son of first generation Italian (Friulan) immigrants. His father, an Aerospace engineer, and his mother, a fourth-grade teacher, instilled in him the importance of education and hard work—along with a love of family and good food. Richard lived out and passed along these values, teaching math at inner-city schools, mentoring Catholic school students, and donating to charter schools. He remained close with his family throughout his life and will be fondly remembered laughing, joking, dispensing investment advice, playing music and singing at monthly extended family get-togethers. When his first granddaughter Emilia was born, in 2022, he relished his role as Nonno.

Driven and focused, Richard’s adult hobbies became serious pursuits. He began studying Italian and deepened his appreciation for Italian food, wine and culture. He made frequent trips to Italy where he reconnected with distant family members. He was particularly passionate about wine and shared his extensive wine collection—and knowledge—generously. Richard was also an avid cyclist, riding with the Westchester Cycling Club, climbing Bear Mountain and completing several Century Tours. His cycling trips took him across North America and Europe. He was a lifelong Yankees fan and could be seen most mornings walking up Artillery Lane with the family dog, Yankee.

Richard is survived by his wife, Cece, his daughters, Adriana and Rebecca, his sisters, Suzanne and Janet, his granddaughter, Emilia, and numerous nieces and nephews. He was a supportive father, uncle, son and brother.

A Celebration of Life will be held on Sunday, August 10th at Ballard Durand Funeral Home in White Plains, NY from 10 AM to 2 PM.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made online to the Glioblastoma Foundation or the Inner-City Scholarship Fund.