Richard Ignatius Gambino (May 5, 1939 – January 12, 2024) was an American author and educator. A professor emeritus atQueens College, City University of New York, Gambino pioneered the field ofItalian-American studies in the 1970s. He is the author ofBlood of My Blood: The Dilemma of the Italian Americans (1974) and co-founder ofItalian Americana, a peer-reviewed cultural/historical journal devoted to the Italian-American experience.
Richard Gambino grew up in theRed Hook section ofBrooklyn, New York; his father was an Italian immigrant.[1] He earned a Ph.D. in philosophy atNew York University.[2]
In 1973, Gambino founded the Italian-American Studies program at CUNY/Queens College.[3] It was the first known offering of its kind in the United States.[4] He published a study of the Italian-American experience titledBlood of My Blood: The Dilemma of the Italian Americans in 1974; it was well received and has become a classic text. That same year, he co-foundedItalian Americana with Ernest Falbo and Bruno Arcudi.[5]
In 1999,HBO made a fictionalized film,Vendetta, based on Gambino's non-fiction book by the same name, about theMarch 14, 1891, lynchings of Italians in New Orleans. The film starredChristopher Walken,Edward Herrmann, andBruce Davison. Gambino's play aboutWalt Whitman,Camerado, and another aboutPope Pius XII, were performed inthe Hamptons on Long Island.[2]
Gambino died on January 12, 2024, at the age of 84.[6]
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