James Lyon. Courtesy photo.

James Lyon, who towered in the legal profession because of his mentoring of young attorneys, his pro bono work, and his distinction as one of the few Connecticut attorneys who dealt exclusively with the law related to the taxation of charitable institutions, died Tuesday morning at 89 years old.

"Jim harkens back to a time when law was truly a profession, and was less of a business. That's the world he came from," said former colleague Alfred Smith Jr., a partner at Murtha Cullina. "It was something he said we always needed to remember: that we are more than a business. Maybe Jim's legacy is that he reminds us of that."

Tributes came pouring in for Lyon, who worked 57 years at Murtha Cullina, from 1956 until he stepped down in 2013. Both friends and current and former Murtha Cullina attorneys said Lyon not only worked to keep nonprofits afloat and thriving, but also encouraged his colleagues to join their boards.

Lyon worked for numerous nonprofit clients, including The Bushnell Performing Arts Center, the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art and the Kingswood Oxford School, a private institution in West Hartford. Those organizations and many others benefited from Lyon's expertise on tax laws related to the nonprofit world. He also helped nonprofits work with the Internal Revenue Service.

"Jim was for me the personification of Murtha's obligation to give back to the community," said partner Ted Whittemore. "He urged lawyers to give back, and not just by working at a legal clinic. It meant also helping volunteer their time at nonprofits and museums."

Teaching moments

Whittemore last saw Lyon on Feb. 2, Super Bowl Sunday, when the two watched the game. Whittemore said Lyon guided him when he began at the firm in 1999.

"He was a mentor in the classic sense of the word," Whittemore said. "He helped me learn the ropes, and provided me with a good sense of Murtha's history and its culture."

Similarly, Howard, Kohn, Sprague & FitzGerald attorney Jamie Sullivan said he recalled Lyon's generosity when Sullivan was a summer associate at Murtha Cullina.

"He took an interest in many of the young lawyers, and was always very supportive," Sullivan said.

Smith said Lyon was known at Murtha Cullina as a kind man who "cared a great deal about our profession."

"He saw young attorneys as the future, and wanted to do what he could to make sure that firm was and would remain in good hands," he said.

Smith said Lyon was happy to talk to younger attorneys about the practice of law, and was known for his impromptu quizzes.

"He'd buttonhole you in the hall," Smith said, "He'd do a little pop quiz, but he always turned it into a teaching moment."

Wesley Horton, a partner with Hartford's Horton, Dowd, Bartschi & Levesque, knew Lyon for more than two decades through their membership on the Connecticut Law Tribune's editorial board and through Swifts Inn, a group of attorneys who met monthly in Hartford to discuss the issues of the day.

"I'd often drive him to both venues," Horton recalled. "He always wanted to go with someone. He was just fun to be around. He had opinions on all issues, but never took offense with people disagreeing with him. You never got red in the face when you disagreed with him. Like a good lawyer, he was fun to argue with."

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