Patrick Anthony O'Doherty, a colorful Baltimore trial lawyer who was considered an expert on complex insurance and personal injury cases, died Saturday of prostate cancer at his Catonsville home. He was 73.
He had stopped working because of illness three weeks ago.
"He loved what he was doing and died with his boots on," said former Baltimore Circuit Chief Judge Robert I. H. Hammerman, a friend and colleague for nearly 40 years. "Even though he was in pain, he was still going to court. It was his love."
"We've lost an outstanding and unorthodox trial lawyer, who was a real character and a great human being," said retired Baltimore County Circuit Judge Frank E. Cicone.
Barrel-chested and 6-foot-3, Mr. O'Doherty was gifted with a lyrical voice and a powerful courtroom presence.
"He'd fight constantly with judges, but you couldn't get mad with him. He was lovely," Judge Cicone said.
"The courtroom was his stage, and he had such a rapport with juries," Judge Hammerman said. "To them, he was 'Plain Old Pat,' and they loved him for it. He had the common touch, and there was nothing affected about him or ostentatious. He didn't wear fancy clothes and was plain as an old shoe. They really thought he was one of them."
Judge Hammerman said Mr. O'Doherty was a "magnificent tactician who was imaginative and creative" and who "carefully built his cases block by block."
"He was always extremely well-prepared and he came across like an actor on stage. He was very, very believable," said former law partner Patrick Coughlin of Baltimore.
Often, when attorneys learned that Mr. O'Doherty was the opposing attorney, they pressed for a settlement, said Judge Hammerman.
Mr. O'Doherty never forgot his roots in Irvington in Southwest Baltimore, where he was born and raised. He attended Mount St. Joseph High School and left after two years to enlist in the Navy during World War II.
He served as a radio man in the Pacific, earned his high school equivalency diploma and was discharged in 1946.
He then worked as a clerk for the Western Maryland Railway and attended the University of Baltimore Law School at night, earning his degree in 1951. He was admitted to the Maryland Bar in 1952 and began practicing law in the title department of Title Guarantee Co.
He subsequently was a property adjuster for USF&G; Corp. and a claims supervisor for Transit Casualty Co., which represented the old Baltimore Transit Co.
With partners Frank X. Gallagher and William Hegarty, Mr. O'Doherty established a private practice in the Fidelity Building downtown, representing insurance and common-carrier companies.
The firm, which later became Gallagher, Hegarty, Nead and Hoffman, was dissolved in the early 1990s and, since 1993, Mr. O'Doherty had been a solo practitioner.
Mr. O'Doherty litigated cases before state and federal courts in New York, Maryland, Missouri, Arizona and California. In the mid-1980s, he tried a case against the government of Iran in The Hague, the Netherlands.
He was also known for his pro bono work, said his former secretary of 37 years, Mary Ella Heil of Overlea. "He never turned anyone away and would give them the shirt off his back," she said.
Mr. O'Doherty was an active and lifelong communicant of St. Joseph Roman Catholic Monastery, 3601 Old Frederick Ave. in Irvington, where a Mass of Christian burial will be offered at 11 a.m. tomorrow.
He is survived by his wife of 51 years, the former Rose Huggins; three sons, Timothy O'Doherty and Michael O'Doherty, both of Baltimore, and Brian O'Doherty of Los Angeles; four daughters, Patricia O'Doherty of Oakland, Calif., Peggy O'Doherty of Alexandria, Va., Gail Weymouth of Stockbridge, Vt. and Erin O'Doherty of Laramie, Wyo.; two brothers, Francis X. O'Doherty of Temeculah, Calif., and Gabriel O'Doherty of Catonsville; two sisters, Gemma Allen and Jean Martin, both of Catonsville; and 11 grandchildren.
Pub Date: 3/30/99