Edward C. Cosgrove Dies at 89

He fought government corruption in Buffalo and Cheektowaga. To solve the racially motivated murders committed by the .22-caliber killer, he organized a 185-man investigation with a 24-hour command post. He was the only local prosecutor in the country to organize a series of undercover operations against mobsters.

He enlisted the help of a wide range of agencies—the Buffalo Police Department, the State Police, the U.S. Department of Justice, the FBI, and the U.S. Organized Crime Task Force. In one of his sting operations, he successfully secured a federal grant to raise the hundreds of thousands of dollars federal undercover agents needed to purchase a stolen Rembrandt painting.

His reputation as a crime fighter led Representatives Jack F. Kemp, John J. LaFalce and Henry J. Nowak to recommend him to President Jimmy Carter to succeed Clarence M. Kelly as FBI director in 1977. U.S. Court of Appeals Judge William H. Webster got the job instead.

Mr. Cosgrove declined to run for a third term as district attorney in 1981 and opened his own practice, the Cosgrove Law Firm. One of his sons, James, joined him in 2000. He tried more jury cases than most lawyers in New York state and continued to see clients until his death on July 4 at Mercy Hospital after a brief illness. He was 89.

Born in South Buffalo, Edward Charles Cosgrove was the eldest of nine children of Edward J. and Margaret E. Mathews Cosgrove. His father was a high school guidance counselor and a steelworker.

He attended Our Lady of Victory Academy in Lackawanna and graduated in 1952 from Bishop Timon High School, where he played football and basketball.

He then received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Notre Dame in 1956.working in the summer in a steel factory, and received a J.D. from Georgetown University Law School in 1959. He was admitted to the District of Columbia bar later that year.

After serving in the Army, he became a special agent of the FBI and was sworn in by its director, J. Edgar Hoover. He was assigned to FBI offices in Washington, D.C., Jacksonville, Florida, and Baltimore, Maryland.

Mr. Cosgrove returned to Buffalo in 1963 to practice law, earned a certificate in criminal law from Northwestern University in 1965, and was affiliated with the firm of Cosgrove and O’Connor from 1965 to 1973. He appeared frequently in court in murder and personal injury cases.

He quickly entered politics, seeking the Democratic endorsement for a vacant Assembly seat in 1964. He became a clerk for his uncle, State Supreme Court Justice Arthur J. Cosgrove, in 1966.

Active as a campaign manager and fundraiser, he won the Democratic endorsement to succeed his longtime friend, District Attorney Michael F. Dillon, when Dillon was elevated to the state Supreme Court in 1973. He defeated James T. McFarlanda well-known Republican state senator, by almost 60,000 votes and took the oath before his uncle.

He recruited college graduates to his staff and cultivated close relationships with local police departments. Although his office handled more than 10,000 criminal cases during his tenure, he was not immune to criticism.

The complaints followed an announcement that, due to an overwhelming workload, he would only prosecute the most serious drink-driving cases. Protests greeted his decision, just before leaving office, to disband the major homicide task force he created for the .22-caliber killer case after a judge ruled that the suspect, Joseph Christopher, was mentally unfit to stand trial.

Christopher was eventually convicted of the first three of his 13 murders and died in prison in 1993. Mr. Cosgrove received a special commendation for his work from FBI Director Webster.

In private practice, his clients included local and national businesses, insurance companies, physicians, dentists, Canisius High School and Bishop Timon-St. Jude High School, Saint-Michel Catholic Church and several orders of female nuns.

He returned to the other side of the courtroom in 2004 when a Chautauqua County judge appointed him as a special prosecutor in the case involving Jamestown police officer Michael Watson, suspected in the disappearance and death of single mother Yolanda Bindics.

In 2008, he appeared in Chautauqua County court as both prosecutor and defense attorney on the same day — for Watson’s sentencing and to represent a former state police investigator charged in a fatal crash.

“Everybody has a right to a good, solid defense in court,” he told Buffalo News reporter Gene Warner, “and the community has a right to a competent, solid, fair trial.”

He was one of Governor Mario Cuomo’s choices for the newly formed Horizons Waterfront Commission in 1988.was president and served until 1991He was also a member of the Superspan Task Force in 2000 and several panels and committees considering the construction of a new Peace Bridge. between Buffalo and Fort Erie, Ontario.

For 43 years, he has received the highest peer review rating for his legal skills and ethical standards in the Martindale-Hubbell Legal Directory. He was selected as one of the top lawyers in New York State by the New York Law Journal in 2023 and received the Legal Elite Lifetime Achievement Award from the Buffalo Law Journal and Business First in 2017.

A member of the county, state and national bars, he chaired the state organization’s Trial Lawyers Section in 2003-04, served as a member of its House of Delegates in 2005 and 2006 and as a member of its Attorney Advertising Task Force from 2006 to 2010.

Deeply religious, he was active in many Catholic organizations. He He was a member of the board of directors of Our Lady of Victory Homes of Charity from 1980 to 1988 and chaired the Father Baker Campaign Dinners. He was president of St. Columban’s Retreat Home in Derby and of the St. Columban’s Retreat League.

He served as a trustee and chairman of the board of Christ the King Seminary and D’Youville College. He also served as a trustee of the Mercy Hospital of Buffalo Foundation for 16 years.

He chaired 25 kickoff luncheons and served on the advisory board of 25 appeals for the Buffalo Diocese Religious Retirement Fund from 1988 to 2012, raising more than $24.4 million. He continued to be a sponsor and advisor for the 2013-2023 campaigns. He received a special award from the Conference of Women Religious Leaders in 1999.

Other distinctions were awarded, including the Gaudete Medal from Saint-Bonaventure University in 2007.the Trocaire College Reflections Prize in 2014 and the Spirit of St. Francis Award in 2016 from Bishop Timon-St. Jude High School, which also recognized him as a Distinguished Alumnus in 1997. He was named an Outstanding Citizen by the Buffalo News in 1977.

A former president of the Notre Dame Club of Buffalo, he was voted the club’s Man of the Year in 1988. He was voted Western New York Man of the Year in 1975 and 1981 for media morality.

He was a former member of the parish council of the Nativity of Our Lord Catholic Church and a member of the Orchard Park Country Club and the Buffalo Club.

He and Dorothea Ann Nicosia, a high school teacher he met on a blind date, were married at St. Benedict Catholic Church on November 25, 1967. Devoted to his family, he especially enjoyed watching his grandchildren’s sporting events.

Besides his wife, he is survived by three sons, Dr. Edward J., James C. and Charles M.; one daughter, Mary Cathleen Moran; six sisters, Aileen Flynn, Jeanne Kirk, Cecelia Cosgrove, Clare Andrews, Ellen Schneiderer and Margaret Stiglianese; one brother, Terrence; and eight grandchildren.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Tuesday at the Church of the Nativity of Our Lord, 26 Thorn Ave., Orchard Park.