David Mario Disabatino

David Mario DiSabatino departed this world July 31,2023. Born on March 28, 1965 in New Castle, Delaware, he was the youngest of four boys born to Dominic Michael DiSabatino, Jr. (1932 – 2004) and Sally Ann (Steyer) DiSabatino (1934 -2022). As a child, his favorite activities were reading and playing football for Holy Spirit Elementary School and St. Mark’s High School. He attended the University of Delaware, graduating in 1988 with a degree in accounting.

He began his professional career in Philadelphia as an auditor for the former firm of Deloitte, Haskins & Sells before entering law school at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C., where he earned his J.D., magna cum laude, in 1996. Returning to live and work in Philadelphia, he was an associate in the real estate department of the former firm of Wolf, Block, Schorr & Solis-Cohen and in the business department of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius. He left private practice in 2002 to take the position of Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, which he felt honored to do because he had been a member of the ACLU and supported its work his entire adult life. Returning to private practice, he earned an LL.M. in Taxation, with honors, from Temple University Beasley School of Law in 2012 and began a career as a solo practitioner doing estate planning in Chester County, Pennsylvania.

In 2007, David met the love of his life, Christine Bigus, at a meeting of liberal political activists in Philadelphia. They shared a deep commitment to progressive activism throughout their lives together. They married at the Stirling Guest Hotel in Reading, Pennsylvania, on September 29, 2012, in a beautiful ceremony they remembered often and well, with Christine’s sister Trish Bigus as matron of honor and David’s brother Mark as best man. David and Christine moved from Queen Village in Philadelphia to Phoenixville, Pennsylvania in 2013.

David felt lucky to become part of Christine’s family, who called him “Tina’s Man”, a title which he was proud of. He felt close to all of Christine’s five sisters and their children and especially to her mother, Linda J. Bigus, formerly of Glen Lyon, Pennsylvania.

David became very interested in genealogy after the death of his father. He discovered that both he and Christine were descendants of members of Clan Maitland of Lauder in the Scottish Borders council area of southeastern Scotland and that both of them had ancestors who had fought in both the American Revolutionary War in the Colonial army and the Civil War for the Union.

A deeply kind and emphatic person, he was a source of support for people both personally and professionally, working with Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers.

He is survived by his wife, Christine Bigus DiSabatino, who he met as a former organizer of Drinking Liberally Philadelphia. For her, became a gun enthusiast - starting the first and only chapter of Shooting Liberally - a reluctant backpacker, and finally, a crazy cat parent – pawther to Jinx, Nibbles, and Snappy.

Preceded in death by his parents, and in addition to his wife and cats who he adored, he is survived by his brothers Dominic “Nick” DiSabatino ,Mark DiSabatino, and Matthew DiSabatino. He was a loving son in law,brother in law, and uncle to numerous nieces and nephews.

Prior to his passing David was the President of Delta Forms, the printing company started by his parents in Wilmington, Delaware in 1970.

Christine and David went on many adventures together. “Let's climb that one, David.”

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Brandywine Valley SPCA, where David and Christine adopted their fur babies.