Richard A. Green, 85
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Richard Alan Green, 85, of Arlington, Va., died of congestive heart failure Monday, Aug. 22, 2011, at Capital Care Hospice in Arlington.
Born in Springfield on April 25, 1926, to Herman and Emma Rudnick Green, he was raised in Trenton, N.J., and graduated from Trenton Central High School at the top of his class. Though most of the men in his family had gone to Williams College, he accepted a scholarship to Harvard University and, after his freshman year, enlisted in the Navy in 1944. He returned after the war and became an editor on The Harvard Crimson, and graduated cum laude in 1949 (class of 1947). Until graduation, he was also a stringer for The Boston Globe. He graduated from Harvard Law School in 1952.
Following graduation, he moved to New York City and worked as a criminal defense attorney. In 1957, he married Lorna H. Paul and joined the Southern District of New York as an assistant U.S. attorney. He directed the American Bar Association's Project on Standards for Criminal Justice, and subsequently moved his family to Washington, D.C., to be the deputy director of the National Commission on Reform of Federal Criminal Laws. Later he accepted the post of the deputy director of the Federal Judicial Center and lectured at Virginia Law School.
Mr. Green returned to private practice in 1974 and spent much of the next 20 years as counsel to the National Farmers Organization and to the Oliver T. Carr Co. After retiring, he moved from Georgetown to Virginia and began a second career as the frontman for a combo that performed standards at hotels and retirement homes in and around the district. He had an exquisite tenor voice.
He had been a member of the Metropolitan Club and was a member of the Harvard Club of New York City.
He leaves his beloved wife of 54 years, Lorna Paul Green, and two sons, Thomas Freeman Green of Asheville, N.C., and Charles Case Green of Dallas.
FUNERAL NOTICE — Services for Mr. Green will be held Thursday, Aug. 25, at 11:00 a.m. at Congregation Beth Israel, 53 Lois St., North Adams. Burial will follow in Beth Israel Cemetery.
Memorial contributions may be made to Capital Caring, 2900 Telestar Ct. Fall Church, VA 22042 or in care of Flynn & Dagnoli-Montagna Home for Funerals, Central Chapels, 74 Marshall St., North Adams, MA 01247.