John H. Doyle III was a former Assistant U.S. Attorney and Chief of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, where he oversaw high profile prosecutions of organized crime and domestic terrorism under United States. John was committed to civil rights his entire life, taking leave from a white shoe firm one year after his 1962 graduation from Harvard Law School to open the first offices in the Deep South for the America Bar Association Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, first in Selma, Alabama in 1963 and then Jackson, Mississippi in 1964. John played a key role in defending protestors as the civil rights movement gained momentum, receiving a medal from the Committee recognizing his service at its 40th anniversary gala in 2003. He entered government service in 1966, serving as a prosecutor under Robert M. Morgenthau for three years and Whitney North Seymour Jr. for two years, leaving in 1972 to enter private practice at Anderson Kill P.C. In 1979, he returned to the Southern District to serve as Chief of the Criminal Division under U.S. Attorney Robert B. Fiske Jr.  A Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, John had a long and distinguished career as a litigator, serving diverse clients at Anderson Kill and later at the New York office of global law firm, Reed Smith.

John was a mentor to many attorneys in his career, much as he was mentored by the greats of his time.  Stated his colleague, Harry H. Rimm, "He was the consummate gentleman. I admired his integrity, bottomless reserves of patience and willingness always to help with anything—no matter how small. He always had his office door open, welcomed interruptions and never said, 'No.'"

John devoted copious time to pro bono work, administering the Office of Compliance Consultants to implement the Legal Aid Society's consent decree with the City of New York for improvement of prison conditions on Rikers Island, the oldest case on the docket in New York.  As a dedicated ethicist, he also chaired the Ethics Committee of the NYC Bar Association, in addition to numerous other roles there, including as vice president and member of the executive committee. John led numerous panels and roundtables on sentencing reform and the fairness of prison terms for drug law violators and other non-violent offenders. Moving to California for retirement, he was planning to take the bar exam in 2020 in order to continue his pro bono work. He succumbed to a heart condition on Dec. 2, 2019 at 82 years of age, shortly after celebrating his birthday with his family. He is survived by his wife of 54 years, Mary Ellen Doyle, his two sons, Noah married to Sandra and Oliver Doyle married to Monica, as well as four grandchildren, Gloria, Nicholas, Francesca and Tatiana. The family plans to hold a memorial service in New York City next year.