By Tony Farina
If you have a legal matter, whatever it might be, including real estate, and are looking for legal help of any kind, you might consider calling the Ralph Lorigo law office in West Seneca where you are likely to find a lawyer to assist you. There are nine lawyers in total at the full-service firm, including Ralph, and you can schedule a free consultation appointment at night or on weekends with no problem.
And if you are an aspiring political candidate or have a political interest you are supporting, you might also consider the Lorigo office because Ralph Lorigo is the longest tenured political party chairman in Erie County serving as the head of the Conservative Party for 31 years, influencing the results of many local elections. In addition, Lorigo was also selected, by virtue of is his long success record as Erie County chairman, as executive vice president of the state Conservative Party last year.
While the Erie County Conservative Party is small compared to the other two, with only 15,420 registered Conservative voters, or 2.5% of the electorate, Lorigo says, “for 2.5%, we put 10% of the vote on the line. Republicans put 30% of the vote on the line, Democrats put 30,40, 35% of the vote on the line, we put four times are own number on the line.” Some say for years it was a case of the tail wagging the dog, but many candidates wouldn’t consider running without the support of the Conservative Party, and it means competition for the line is often quite heated. As one member of the Conservative Party executive committee told me, “Ralph knows the game better than anybody. A political genius in many ways.”
The Ralph Lorigo story in many ways adds up to a remarkable history of success in legal, real estate, and political matters for the kid who grew up on Buffalo’s East Side, on Swan St., later moving to West Seneca with his family where he has remained ever since with his law offices located at 101 Slade Ave., just off the Thruway.
Anyone who knows Ralph Lorigo knows of his incredible work ethic that was honed at an early age in a family led by his father, Ralph Lorigo, one of 10 children, and his mother, Caroline (everybody called her Carol), who led him into politics.
“My mother was my biggest advocate, no question,” Ralph recalled during a recent interview. “My mother is the one who led me into politics because she always believed that everyone was obligated to do some type of public service. Everybody who could should help somebody else.” And Lorigo says he still lives by that motto. His mother died 18 years ago and I remember meeting her several times in the office with her son. Their close relationship was easy to see.
But back to his father.
“My dad quit high school at 15 and went to work in a candy factory for a while,” Lorigo recalls. “At 17, he lied about his age and went to Bethlehem Steel and within several months, he became an assistant foreman. And at 18 he was a foreman of 20 men at Bethlehem Steel and then he got drafted.”
Lorigo says his dad was one of five brothers who went to World War II so there were five stars in front of my grandmother’s house.
“My father was injured in Normandy and he got 86 stitches in the head, spending 11 to 12 months in hospitals in France, England, and then the U. S.,” says Ralph. “But he had a strong work ethic and he got out on the GI Bill and got his GED. He then went to UB and got some college, enough so that he became a real estate broker. But even though he had his license, he went to work for my uncle Pat in a grocery store on Swan St., working five days a week at the store and selling real estate on the weekends. My mother worked at Mercy Hospital as a secretary and lived in an upstairs flat on Swan St. in the house my father owned. We lived upstairs because he could get more rent downstairs.” Young Ralph shared bunk beds with his sister.
It kind of was like the beginning of the real estate career that has led the way to great financial success for Ralph and his family as the city would eventually claim the house on Swan St. for redevelopment so his father bought a house in West Seneca, which his father said was the least expensive house in West Seneca at the time, $14,000 in 1960 when Ralph was 12 years old.
“My father had one salesman while living at the house on Chamberlin Drive working out of the basement, and he and his salesman, John Moynihan, started selling real estate full time,” recalls Lorigo. “And my mother worked as a brain wave technician at Mercy, so we had a pay check coming in.”
The real estate empire that his family has put together began in the basement on Chamberlin Drive in West Seneca and continues to grow and reap rewards for the entire hard-working Lorigo family, because that’s what they learned from the beginning. A strong work ethic and tenacious drive can lead to success, and it has. Learning the law has helped quite a bit, too. The father and grandfather set the tone, you either work or go to school. No free riders allowed.
Would take forever to cover every stop, but here are some of the highlights.
Ralph married the former Debbie Caruana in 1974 and they have three children, Michael, Joseph, and Jaimie. Michael started out studying packaging science at RIT but after five years of study he went to Canisius and got an MBA and then told his father he wanted to work with him selling real estate, and long story short, he now owns 1,400 apartments.
Joseph Lorigo received his law degree at UB and an MBA, and after serving in the County Legislature, was an upset winner for State Supreme Court where he now sits, a race master political strategist Ralph Lorigo helped orchestrate and win for his son whose wife Lindsay won his seat in the legislature after his judicial victory. Daughter Jaime went to Erie Community College studying early childhood development. It is a family that has succeeded on all levels and father Ralph is still very much involved in real estate with substantial holdings in Erie County and Ocala, Fla.
Ralph has a total of nine lawyers in his firm, including himself, handling pretty much any kind of legal case that comes into the office. Until his unfortunate passing in April, retired State Supreme Court Justice Pat NeMoyer had joined the firm adding his enormous legal skill set to the office.
“He was a great legal mind and we sure loved having him here,” says Ralph. “He is very much missed by all of us here.”
In the law business, the Lorigo firm handles all types of legal business, and Ralph himself was a strong advocate for the drug ivermectin that was used to save lives of patients suffering from Covid 19. He fought and won many cases where hospitals would not let patients be treated with the drug and he represented many people across the country trying to get treatment with ivermectin and saved many lives.
The story of Ralph Lorigo is an incredible success story and he is by no means resting on his laurels. He finds time to answer the call, and he now represents a group of state corrections officers, arguing against sanctions imposed on them by Gov. Kathy Hochul during the recent strike.
And despite his very busy schedule, Lorigo has started a new career to go along with all the rest: a two-hour radio show, the Conservative Roundtable, on Saturdays on 1270 The Patriot at 11 a.m., where high profile guests and regular folks can talk about the politics of the day with one of the area’s top political minds, Chairman Ralph Lorigo.
Despite his years, born in 1947, Ralph Lorigo is still fighting the fight at full speed.
