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- OBITUARY: POST-GAZETTE, Pittsburgh, PA, Thursday, December 19, 2002
by Jan Ackerman, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
“Thomas W. Pomeroy Jr., a retired state Supreme Court justice, was known at the Downtown law firm Kirkpatrick & Lockhart as one of the ‘seven founders.’ He was the last of the founders to survive, and best known for his skill in teaching and mentoring young lawyers. ‘A large part of the culture of this organization is attributable to him,’ said Charles J. Queenan, senior counsel at Kirkpatrick & Lockhart.
“Justice Pomeroy, who served on the state’s highest court from 1968 to 1978, died Tuesday of congestive heart failure at Sherwood Oaks, Cranberry, where he had lived since 1992. He was 94 and spent most of his life in Ben Avon Heights.
“His colleagues at Kirkpatrick & Lockhart described him as a remarkable lawyer and judge who practiced law, and lived, with grace and style.
‘Before he was elected to the Supreme Court, he served on a committee to revise the state constitution, an effort that led to a constitutional convention in 1967. After leaving the bench, he was a member of the governor’s commission to evaluate the nuclear accident at Three Mile Island. Throughout his life, he worked to improve the administration of the state court system. At the firm, lawyers said Justice Pomeroy was a detail-oriented, articulate and stylistic thinker who loved to educate young lawyers on the fine points of the law.
“I regard him as my mentor and second father,’ saidf Thomas Nelson, a partner at Kirkpatrick who bought the Pomeroys’ home in Ben Avon Heights in 1971 when Justice Pomeroy and his wife built a new home nearby.
“Justice Pomeroy also was an extraordinary editor who went over legal briefs and writings with a fine-tooth comb. ‘He would review repeatedly and in detail your written work until it was perfect,’ said H. Woodruff Turner, a partner in the firm. When Kirkpatrick & Lockhart recently renovated its Pittsburgh office, it christened the Thomas W. Pomeroy Jr. Professional Development Center.
“Justice Pomeroy was born in Crafton, educated in public schools in Ben Avon and graduated from Lafayette College in Easton, Northhampton County, where he was an outstanding student and later served as a trustee. After graduation, he taught public speaking at Lafayette for one year before entering Harvard Law School, where he received his degree in 1933. Soon after graduation, he joined the Downtown law firm of Reed Smith Shaw & McClay. In 1935, he married Maria Frances Whitten of West Newton, Mass. She died in 1994.
“During World War II, he served in the Office of General Counsel of the U.S. Navy, where he rose to the rank of lieutenant commander.
“In 1946, he and six other lawyers broke away from Reed Smith and formed a new firm called Kirkpatrick, Pomeroy, Lockhart & Johnson, which evolved into the present-day Kirkpatrick & Lockhart.
“While building that firm, Justice Pomeroy served as president of the state and county bar associations, was a leader in numerous civic and charitable organizations including the Community Chest (now the United Way), YMCA and World Affairs Council, and was a member of the Duquesne Club, the Harvard-Yale-Princeton Club and other clubs. He was a longtime member of Ben Avon Presbyterian Church, where he served as an elder and Sunday school teacher.
“In December 1968, he was appointed to the Supreme Court by then-Gov. Raymond P. Shafer to fill a vacancy created by the death of Justice Michael A. Musmanno of Stowe. He won an election in November 1969 and served until he reached the mandatory retirement age in 1978. After leaving the court, he returned to Kirkpatrick & Lockhart in the position “of counsel.”
“Former U.S. Attorney Frederick W. Thieman clerked for Justice Pomeroy in 1977 and 1978 on the state Supreme Court and remained friends with him. ‘He was a mentor, a father, a friend, a constitutional scholar and an English professor all rolleed into one,’ Thieman said. ‘IO used to have lunch with him about once a month. Twenty yhears after he retired, he could still remember which opinions which clerks worked on. It would actually be embarrassing because he would ask you about the case and you couldn’t remember,’ Thieman said.
“Justic Pomeroy received numerous awards and commendations, including the American Judicature Society’s Herbert Harley Award for his lifelong dedication to the effective administration of justice.
“His daughter, Anne P. Martin of South Kent, Conn., saaid legal work ‘consumed about 95 percent of his life, but he loved to walk and hike in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.’ He had a cottage there where the family gathered in the summer. He also enjoyed fishing, especially in Georgian Bay in Canada.
“In addition to Martin, he is survived by another daughter, Helen P. Hopkins of EVerett, Wash.; two sons, the Rev. George R. Pomeroy of Warrenville, Ill., and Benjamin B. Pomeroy of Midlothian, Va.; 11 grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren.
“Interment is private. A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Jan. 4 at Community Presbyterian Church of Ben Avon, 7501 Church Ave. The family will receive visitors at the church beginning at 9:30 a.m.
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Connected Bloodlines
1908 - 2002 (94 years)
