Christopher Maffucci dies in Massachusetts Was the Maileader's 1960s publisher

      Maffucci was born in Lynbrook on Nov. 27, 1923, and was the son of Christoforo and Lucia Maffucci. In June 1941, he graduated from Malverne High School and attended Wesleyan University that fall where he attained academic distinction and became the president of his fraternity, Delta Upsilon.
      He interrupted his studies at Wesleyan to enlist in the United States Navy during World War II. In the Navy, he became a lieutenant and served in the Pacific. Upon the completion of his military service, he returned to Wesleyan and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree.
      In September 1946, Maffucci attended Columbia University Law School in New York City, and upon graduation practiced law in Long Island for the next 40 years. He began his law career as a general practitioner but quickly specialized in real estate transactions and litigation. He was a partner in the law firm Goldstein & Maffucci in Hempstead, and later a partner in the firm Maffucci, Kruman & Kruman in Malverne.
      By the late 1950s, a significant portion of his law practice involved zoning and land-use disputes. At that time, zoning and planning boards were relatively new institutions in the United States. He gradually became interested in the broader social policy implications of zoning and land use regulations, which, by the 1970s, he felt were often being used to exclude the poor and minorities, as well as eroding property rights. He eventually wrote two books on the subject, the first was a highly critical analysis of zoning and land-use regulation. His second book was a handbook for lawyers and lay persons so that they could navigate the increasingly complex land-use regulatory process. At the time of his death, he was working on a third book analyzing the theory of property rights.
      In addition to practicing law, in the 1960s, Maffucci published The Maileader. He stirred up controversy with the newspaper by writing editorials promoting civil rights for African-Americans, although he later became disappointed in what he saw as the excesses of civil rights movement in recent years, according to one of his sons. In the 1960s, Maffucci also served on Hofstra University's council, was a municipal court judge in Malverne, and taught real estate law at the Poe Institute.
      In 1987, he founded The Rhodes Review, a legal publication analyzing New York State zoning and land-use law, and property rights issues. As part of The Rhodes Review, Maffucci and his wife, Jean, conducted seminars throughout New York to instruct lawyers and municipal officials about zoning and land-use law.
      He moved to Mount Desert Island in the late 1980s where he continued to publish The Rhodes Review until January 2002. A memorial service was held on Saturday, April 13th at the Whitney Arts Center, 561 Whitney Avenue New Haven, Connecticut. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to either the Property Rights Foundation of America, P.O. Box 75 Stony Creek, N.Y. 12878, or the Foundation for Economic Education, 30 S. Broadway, Irvington, N.Y. 10533.