Born on September 28, 1917, in Bangor, Maine, he prepared for college at Bangor High School and became a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon Fraternity at Bowdoin. Following his graduation magna cum laude and as a member of Phi Beta Kappa, he entered Harvard Law School, from which he was graduated in 1941. During World War II, he served from 1942 to 1946 in the U.S.Army in the field artillery and attained the rank of captain. In 1946, he became an associate with Ropes & Gray in Boston, Mass., where he became a partner in 1958. For some years, beginning in 1959, he conducted a seminar on deferred compensation plans in the new Boston University School of Law graduate tax program as a member of its part-time faculty. He was a town meeting member in Swampscott, Mass., and served as residential chairman of the United Fund in Milton, Mass. He was active in the Tax Section of the American Bar Association, serving in various positions, including chairman of the Committee on Employee Benefits and as a member of the Council. He was also chairman of the American College of Tax Counsel. He retired in 1989. He was married in 1950 to Constance Buffum, who survives him, as do two daughters, Emily Simagra of Gloucester, Mass., and Deborah Marion of Little Compton, R.I.; a sister, Barbara Van Italie of Old Saybrook, Conn.; and five grandchildren.