MSU Law Professor Emeritus Mario A. Ceresa dies at 83

MSU College of Law Professor Emeritus Mario A. Ceresa, died April 2, at the age of 83, after battling cancer.

Ceresa was born on March 3, 1932, in Puerto Padre, in eastern Cuba.

He attended the Colegio de Beland then the University of Havana Law School, where he graduated with a Doctor in Law in 1956.

He received the prestigious “National Award Ricardo Dolz y Arango” and a Presidential appointment to the position of public defender. He served as a public defender for 10 years, finally leaving Cuba when it became clear he would not be allowed to practice law unless he joined the revolution. He boarded his family on a midnight TWA flight, leaving everything else behind.

Arriving in Ann Arbor, he first worked in the Willow Run assembly plant and then at the University of Michigan Law Library as a library page.

He completed his Master of Library Science in 1970, and accepted the position of library director and assistant professor with the Detroit College of Law that same year.

He taught comparative law and international law courses.

In his 30-year tenure as library director, he was an innovator and regularly on the forefront of technology.

He started his career by overseeing a 12,500-square-foot addition to the Detroit facility, and ended his career by overseeing a new 42,000-square-foot library in East Lansing.

In 1983 he decided to link the library’s two computers, and coaxed the janitor into laying a coaxial cable, hidden on top of bookcases. He went on to wire three networks and build several computer labs, purchase the first online integrated library catalog, and subscribe to all of the “new” databases like Westlaw and Lexis.    He also built up the print collection by adding over 70,000 volumes, joined the GPO Depository program, and made sure the Library owned every title identified in the accreditation guidelines.     

He is survived by his wife, Marica; children: Mario Junior, John, Patricia, Maria, Deris, and Robert; and many grandchildren.