Ida R. Pugliese | Italophile lawyer, 91

Ida Rosa Pugliese, 91, of Wayne, a lawyer who fostered Italian culture, died of pneumonia Friday at Delaware County Memorial Hospital.

Mrs. Pugliese earned a bachelor's degree from Chestnut Hill College and a master's degree in political science from the University of Pennsylvania. She took a librarian job at Penn's Biddle Law Library, but soon "got tired of looking at the outside of law books and decided to look inside," her daughter Maria Hieble said. Mrs. Pugliese graduated from Penn's law school in 1944 and joined the firm of Drinker Biddle in Philadelphia.

She left the firm in 1947 to marry lawyer Peter F. Pugliese. After their children were grown, she had a law practice in Philadelphia until the 1980s.

In 1963, Mrs. Pugliese and her husband established the American Institute for Italian Culture, which offered free lectures for 20 years. They were honored by the Italian government for their work and visited Italy often with their family.

A trained singer and pianist, Mrs. Pugliese taught music to students at Our Lady of the Assumption School in Strafford for 10 years. Her pride and joy, her daughter said, was the first and second graders who sang Italian carols at the institute's Christmas party.

In addition to her daughter, Mrs. Pugliese is survived by daughters Christina Burkhart and Elisa, and five grandchildren. Her husband died in 1981.

A Funeral Mass will be at 10 a.m. today at Our Lady of the Assumption Church, 35 Old Eagle School Rd., Strafford. Friends may call from 9 a.m. Burial will be in Calvary Cemetery, West Conshohocken.