Neil Tabor, a Baltimore real estate lawyer and longtime Pikesville resident, died of heart failure Monday at Sinai Hospital. He was 79.

Mr. Tabor was born in Baltimore and raised on Tioga Parkway. He was a 1946 graduate of City College and received a bachelor's degree from the University of Maryland in 1949. He was a 1951 graduate of the University of Maryland Law School and earned a master's in law from Harvard University in 1952.

He served in the Army as a member of the Judge Advocate General's Corps from 1953 to 1954.

After returning to Baltimore, he became a partner in the firm of Siskind & Tabor. He later established Tabor & Rottman, where he practiced real estate law for 22 years until joining the firm of Adelberg, Rudow, Dorf & Hendler in 2000.

Mr. Tabor was a co-author with Melvin Sykes of West's Maryland Law Encyclopedia Procedural Forms, published in 1964.

"This legal text is still in use today, and was long one of the standard commercial reference books for lawyers in the state," said his son, Dr. Steven R. Tabor of Leiden, Netherlands.

Mr. Tabor enjoyed listening to and collecting classical music recordings.

"After building up a collection of some 5,000 records and CDs, he donated the collection to the WBJC classical music station and the Enoch Pratt Library," his son said

Mr. Tabor was a member of Beth El Congregation.

Services will be held at 3 p.m. today at Sol Levinson & Bros., 8900 Reisterstown Road.

Also surviving are his wife of 53 years, the former Rhona Brenner; a daughter, Nancy R. Tabor of Guilford; a brother, Harry Tabor of Franklin, Mich.; and three grandchildren.