Ernest Lawrence Barcella Jr. ’67

Ernest Lawrence Barcella Jr. ’67, J.D., of Washington, D.C., died of bladder cancer on November 4, 2010. Hundreds of friends, former colleagues and admirers attended a memorial ceremony held on November 30, 2010, in Washington’s federal district trial court, where the outgoing, storytelling litigator made a name as a terrorism prosecutor in the 1970s and 1980s and then later as a white-collar defense lawyer. Larry came to college from Birmingham Seaholm of Bethesda, Maryland; majored in history; was a member of Zeta Psi, Interdormitory Council and Newman Club; and went on to earn a J.D. from Vanderbilt in 1970. As an assistant U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., from 1971 to 1986, he led inquiries and prosecutions involving the assassination of Orlando Letelier in 1976, illegal sales of explosives by former CIA agent Edwin Wilson, the 1983 bombings of the American embassies in Beirut and Kuwait and the Marine garrison in Beirut, and the 1985 hijacking of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro. He was awarded the Harold J. Sullivan Award by the Assistant United States Attorney Association in 1979 and the John Marshall Award for Outstanding Achievement in Litigation from the U.S. Department of Justice in 1983. Larry left federal service in 1986. In private practice he handled internal investigations for corporations and defended people charged with securities fraud, antitrust violations, tax evasion and money laundering. He was a partner in the law firm of Paul, Hastings, Janofsky and Walker and a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. Larry was predeceased by father, Ernest ’34. He is survived by wife Mary and daughter Laura.