Former Nassau DA Dillon remembered as man of conviction

Days before former Nassau District Attorney Denis Dillon would stand for re-election one year, Dillon's longtime friend Arthur Diamond offered him some unsolicited advice.

"Stop hitting so hard on the anti-abortion issue," Diamond remembered telling Dillon, a devout Catholic. "It's hurting you politically."

Dillon paused, then said, "I love you, Artie, but I can't worry about this election. I have to worry about what happens to me long after this election," Diamond recalled at Dillon's funeral Mass Thursday morning.

"He was our great servant, but he was God's first," said Diamond, now a state Supreme Court justice.

Dillon, one of the longest-serving public officials in state history, was remembered in a service at St. Agnes Cathedral in Rockville Centre for standing by his convictions, no matter what the political cost. He died Sunday at 76.

The service was attended by numerous monsignors and priests, as well as members of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, an ancient Catholic order to which Dillon belonged. Dozens of public officials, uniformed police officers, former and current prosecutors and judges also attended, including Nassau Police Commissioner Lawrence Mulvey and Rep. Peter King (R-Seaford).

Dillon was buried at the Cemetery of the Holy Rood in Westbury.

In addition to his sometimes controversial stands on moral issues, Dillon was remembered for taking politics out of the district attorney's office, reforming plea bargaining policies and widening the scope of the office to include social programs.

"Denis saw eternal possibility in people," said Msgr. Robert Brennan, who delivered the homily. "No one was to be cast aside. No one was beyond being saved."

Dillon, who served as a police officer in the Bronx and as a federal prosecutor before being elected in 1974, suffered a stunning defeat to first-time candidate Kathleen Rice in 2005.

After leaving office, he worked in private practice at the law firm of DerGarabedian and Dillon in Rockville Centre. He died of lymphoma after struggling with cancer since the early 1990s.

In addition to describing Dillon as a man of integrity and strong moral convictions, Diamond and Dillon's daughter, Barbara Dillon, remembered his whimsical side. Diamond described Dillon as a terrible driver who once backed out of his driveway with the garden hose attached to his bumper. His daughter talked about her father's silly limericks and how he would signal his readiness to leave the house for family outings by playing the piano.

"I remember my mother saying, 'Hurry up. Daddy's on the piano,' " she said.

As Dillon's flag-draped coffin was carried out of the cathedral, a full police color guard lined the sun-soaked street outside.

Barbara Dillon had said in her eulogy that she worried that her father's funeral would not be well attended, since he had been out of the public eye for several years.

"But a friend told me that a great man would get a great send-off," she said. "And he was right."