Former judge, lawyer, civil rights advocate, labor activist, in New Bedford, Fall River area passes away

OBITUARY: John Michael Xifaras, a retired Massachusetts Superior Court Judge whose life personified the American dream of his immigrant parents, died March 18, 2025, from complications from pneumonia in Florida where he was living with his son. He was 88.

Judge Xifaras served the Commonwealth for nearly 19 years as a District and then Superior Court Judge. Prior to Governor Michael S. Dukakis appointing him to the bench in 1982, John was a labor, admiralty and employment lawyer opening his law practice in 1962 in his hometown, New Bedford, Massachusetts practicing first with Guy Volterra his friend and future Judge. Later in 1969 Ronald Pina, the future District Attorney joined the firm.

He made a memorable hire in the 1970s of Scott Lang who went on to become mayor of New Bedford and the firm, Lang, Xifaras and Bullard, remains one of the preeminent law firms in the Southcoast. Xifaras was a passionate civil rights advocate and labor activist representing numerous unions including the Teamsters, the United Auto Workers Union, the AFL-CIO, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the New Bedford Garment Workers, the New Bedford Fire Department, six local police unions, the New Bedford Seaman’s Union, Longshoremen’s Union, Lumper’s Union and others.

He took particular pride in his work as General Counsel for the local chapter of the NAACP during the Civil Rights Movement and helped register voters in Mississippi during the Freedom Summer. In addition, Xifaras served as Chairmen of the New Bedford School Committee and was active in Democratic Party politics until he became a judge.

He retired from the bench in 2000 at the age of 64 to become a mediator and arbitrator at JAMS, a position to which he was particularly well suited due to his experience negotiating for labor unions and settling disputes.

Judge Xifaras was born in a 3-story tenement home on Washburn Street in New Bedford on April 14,1936, to Michael and Zoe (Jenny) Xifaras, Greek immigrants whose work ethic and pride in their heritage were handed down to their two sons, Louis and John. He was a graduate of Tabor Academy, Babson College and Suffolk University Law School. His father Michael, a tavern and restaurant owner, sent his son to Tabor to get a first-rate education but reminded him to always remember who he was and where he came from. John X never forgot. He learned firsthand the advantage of an education and advocated for public education throughout his life.

To know John Xifaras was to be regaled by tales of the Peloponnese, the rocky Greek peninsula where the Xifaras clan lived for generations. He was always quick to remind listeners that Mani was the only section of Greece never to be occupied by invaders. He traveled back to the land of his ancestors and to his father’s birth village regularly throughout his life, most recently in a 2023 visit to Areopolis, with his entourage of 14 children and grandchildren.

His Greek Easter celebrations, featuring an entire roasted lamb, were the stuff of legends as was the hospitality he and his wife, MarDee, offered throughout their lives at their coastal home in Marion. He prepared and presided over many summer dinners that often ended with a glass of Metaxa and a thick Cuban cigar and the certainty that he and his pals had solved the world’s problems, once again. Despite his reverence for the law, he expected his close friends to bring him back a box of Cubans from every foreign trip.

His final act as a judge in 2000 was presiding over a naturalization ceremony at Battleship Cove in Fall River. He loved to perform that function. The new citizens, a veritable United Nations of natives from the Azores, Vietnam, the Dominican Republic, Mexico and other nations listened awestruck as the first-generation Greek American judge explained the proceedings and swore them in as American citizens. His example showed them that they and their children could achieve great things. “I believe you will find peace, security, prosperity and happiness in your new homeland,” he said adding advice he learned from his own Greek immigrant father. “Your citizenship doesn’t require you to leave your traditions and heritage behind.”

He bragged about his ability to settle complicated cases quickly. But also, quietly took on a duty that many of his Roman Catholic colleagues declined, hearing the judicial bypass cases of pregnant teenaged girls who needed a judge’s okay to get an abortion. He handled those “Mary Moe” cases in chambers, removing his black robe to minimize his intimidating presence for the teenaged girls, as he gently questioned each to make certain she fully understood what she was doing and acting with free will.

In his younger years, he was an avid sailor and scratch golfer. He loved the ocean and bought his first sailboat in 1965. He named it and the subsequent three sailboats, Aspida, a Greek word for shield that referred to his love of justice and was the rallying cry of the peasants in his family’s native Mani who resisted Turkish occupation for 600 years.

He was predeceased by his parents, his brother Louis Michael Xifaras, a well-known insurance company owner, and his wife of 48 years, Margaret “MarDee” Dexter (Strahorn) Xifaras. MarDee was a prominent New Bedford lawyer and Democratic activist who shared his commitment to human and civil rights and enthusiasm for a great party. He is survived by his three children, Michael John (M.J.) Xifaras and his wife Nicole, who was his primary caregiver and devoted herself with remarkable patience and kindness to John’s comfort and care for the last five years; Juliet Dexter Xifaras, and Dena Xifaras; six beloved grandchildren; Yanni, Stella, Zoe, Spiros, Thomas and Theo, as well as many nieces, nephews, cousins and a tribe of devoted friends.

A celebration of life will be held in the Wickenden Chapel at Tabor Academy on Saturday June 14, 2025, at 1 p.m. Interment at the Point Road Memorial Forest, where his wife is buried, will be private.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be sent to the Margaret Xifaras Scholarship Fund, UMass Law, 333 Faunce Corner Road, Dartmouth, MA 02747.