John Naizby. Courtesy photo

Remembered as a compassionate plaintiffs personal injury attorney and an avid outdoorsman who once ran three Ironman races in one year, friends say John Naizby touched many lives with his humor, love of life and family, and his friendship.

Naizby was 53 years old when he died of cancer Tuesday in Branford.

Naizby, who was based in Branford and had offices in New York and Florida, had been an attorney for 27 years. Early in his career, he worked as a lawyer for Allstate Insurance, representing insurers in personal injury matters.

Attorney Jim Gaston remembers interviewing Naizby to join the now-defunct Gaston & Ruane in 1998, where the attorney would be representing plaintiffs.

"I had heard only good things about John. He was doing defense insurance work, but he really wanted to represent injured people, as opposed to the insurance companies," said Gaston, now a solo practitioner in Bridgeport.

That hire paid off in big ways, Gaston said Friday.

"He was an exceptionally gifted trial lawyer," Gaston said of Naizby, who was a member of the Connecticut Trial Lawyers Association and taught for more than two decades at the Trial Lawyers College in Wyoming. "He was a consummate human being. He was the real deal."

Gaston said Naizby made an art form of getting to know his clients.

"He would actually go to his clients' house and he'd visit them frequently," Gatson said. "He wanted to know about their struggles and challenges. It's not all that unusual for lawyers to do that, but John did it more frequently than most."

Naizby's performance in the courtroom was a must-see, those who knew him said.

"In trials, he came across as very sincere. Jurors liked him because he had immediate credibility," Gatson said. "He never exaggerated. He just presented a genuine heartfelt case."

Longtime friend, attorney Robert Berke echoed Gatson.

"He enjoyed helping his clients, and had the ability to convey a story to a jury. … Not many lawyers in Connecticut could do that," said Berke, principal at the Law Offices of Robert Berke in Bridgeport. "It's not something you can learn. It's something you just have."

Berke remembers his friend's kindness.

"I slept on his couch when I first became an attorney in 1992, because I didn't have any money for an apartment," Berke recalled Friday. "Then nine years later, I was unhappy with the firm I was working for and he helped me get a job with another firm. He was generous to others."

Jay Ruane worked with Naizby from 1999 to 2001 when the two worked for Gaston & Ruane, the firm in which Ruane's father was a partner.

"He was the kind of guy who'd give you the shirt off his back," Ruane said. "He was so generous and he liked to talk. He talked about everything. He had a passion for life and would talk about travel and sports and law and culture."

Ruane said when he saw that his friend had died earlier this week, he messaged his paralegal, who was Naizby's secretary at one time.

"She told me it was really a bummer," Ruane said. "She said he was such a nice guy and that they had so much fun together. That was a testament to him in that other people remembered him for the fun and not for the work or the stress."

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