Sept. 19, 1927 – June 3, 2023
Joseph M. Nasca, an attorney and real estate counsel to many local developers, died June 3 in Brothers of Mercy Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Clarence, after a long illness. He was 95.
Born in Buffalo, the son of a carpenter who emigrated from Italy, he grew up on the West Side and attended Holy Angels Collegiate Institute, where he was key to making the newly founded high school competitive in sports.
He was an All-Catholic basketball player in his junior and senior years, and an All-Catholic and All-Western New York baseball player as a sophomore and junior.
A Buffalo News sportswriter noted in 1944 that, as a pitcher, he had a “smoking fastball … a real curve and excellent control.”
He pitched numerous no-hitters for Holy Angels and championship Muny league teams. Scouted by the Boston Red Sox and Brooklyn Dodgers, he signed a contract at age 16 with the St. Louis Cardinals, but did not report. He also had athletic scholarship offers from several colleges.
Instead, after graduating from Holy Angels in 1946, he enlisted in the Army and served with the occupation forces in Japan.
“His feeling was he wanted to go to college,” his son David said, “and education was very important for his father.”
Discharged in 1948, he enrolled in Canisius College on the GI Bill for two years, studying pre-law, then was accepted at the University of Buffalo Law School, graduating with an LLB degree in 1953.
After he passed his bar exam, he shared law offices in the Walbridge Building in downtown Buffalo with his older brother, John J. Nasca.
A specialist in real estate law, he took leave from Nasca & Nasca from 1977 to 1980 to join Twin Fair Inc., the discount department store chain which his brother had helped found. He served as president of Twin Fair Properties, Inc., its real estate subsidiary.
He oversaw property issues associated with Twin Fair’s acquisition of Hens & Kelly…
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