Nancy King; dedicated life to help poor get legal aid

Nancy King, accepting an award from the United Way of Tri-County.

Running a legal aid office for nearly 30 years, Nancy King was many things to many people: a leader, a mentor, a fund-raiser, and an advocate for those who could not afford an attorney. She was something else, too.

"She had that Irish way of reaching out and connecting to people on a personal level that was absolutely extraordinary," said Bob Sable, executive director of Greater Boston Legal Services. "Within a couple of minutes, not only did you feel like you knew her, but she was asking you about your family as if she grew up with you.

"And she put that to use personally and professionally."

Even among lawyers, Ms. King was legendary for the number of hours she worked, and she was just as dedicated to her eight nieces and nephews, working them into her conversations and inviting them into her office during her long days and nights as executive director of South Middlesex Legal Services in Framingham.

Although she was diagnosed more than 20 years ago with breast cancer, which metastasized over the past decade, the illness was almost beside the point for Ms. King. She worked. She took care of colleagues and relatives. She helped run her office by phone from hospitals amid the most intrusive treatments.

Ms. King died Dec. 18 at her home in Lincoln. She was 59 and had lived in Lincoln of late after many years in Arlington.

"There was no self-pity," Sable wrote in a tribute to his friend of more than 30 years. "I asked her about it once not long ago, and she said, 'You give yourself ten minutes a day to feel sorry for yourself and then you get on with it.' Her life was an inspiration; her death a huge loss."

Affluent suburbs such as Concord, Wellesley, and Weston were among the three dozen communities Ms. King's agency served, but she said a few years ago that the number of clients seeking free legal assistance was increasing.

"I think that since the economy is failing, we've seen a lot more people," she told the Globe in August 2003. "What we see a lot in the towns we cover is people who are newly poor. Sometimes I call them the nouveau poor. It's hard for them to ask for help because they've never experienced this before."

Ask they did, however, and Ms. King ensured that her section of the social safety net never frayed.

"She was wise; she was witty," said Betsy Soule, a supervising attorney at the agency. "She was a realist about the problems that our clients faced, and she was always hopeful and inspirational about the impact we could have on their lives."

Growing up in West Roxbury, Ms. King was the second of six children and the one younger siblings counted on for scrambled eggs in the morning.

"Everybody knew she was the sort of go-to person in the family," said Ms. King's older sister, Mary of Boston.

Ms. King graduated from Mount St. Joseph Academy in Brighton, from Albertus Magnus College in New Haven, and in 1972 from Boston College Law School.

At first she was a lawyer in the Legal Aid Society of Albuquerque through VISTA, Volunteers in Service to America. In 1977, she became a staff attorney at South Middlesex Legal Services and was named executive director two years later.

"She was at it a long time," Sable said. "Thousands of people in the Greater Framingham area got some measure of equal justice because of her."

He said Ms. King's legacy also was carved out behind the scenes as she restructured her agency and coordinated with other organizations to increase efficiency as funding grew tighter.

"There's the old saying that you can get anything in the world done if you're willing to not take credit for it," he said. "Nancy was the exemplar of that."

Because of her longevity, Ms. King hired all the 20 or so people who now work at the agency. Because of her approach to leadership, many have stayed for years.

"Nancy was an extraordinary woman," Soule said. "She was selfless and a great humanitarian. She also had high standards and expected all of us to meet them, but in a way that was not in your face. There was never a raised voice, but you knew exactly what you expected of you."

A sense of humor and an appreciation for life outside work helped Ms. King show her staff how to provide solid legal representation without the resources of lawyers in expansive private firms.

Still, Sable said with a chuckle in an interview, "don't paint her as a paragon of goodness."

"She had a wicked Irish love of gossip and hearing about people's triumphs - and their shortcomings as well," Sable said.

And though Ms. King usually spent more time at work than at home, her nieces and nephews rarely were out of her thoughts.

"She spoiled them outrageously," her sister said. "When she would come down for Christmas, you couldn't fit anything else in the car because she brought so many presents."

Because Ms. King had survived so long and bounced back so frequently during her illness, colleagues were caught off guard when she died a few days after they last saw her in the office. There was no time for farewells.

"Nancy would say, 'Carry on,' so we will do that, but the ripple effect through the Framingham community, the legal community - it's just stunning," Soule said. "We're closing the office Friday in honor of her, even though she would have said, 'Work until quarter to 4, then go to the wake.' "

In addition to her sister Mary, Ms. King leaves two other sisters, Patricia of San Anselmo, Calif., and Eileen Coburn of Darien, Conn.; two brothers, Thomas Jr. of Falls Church, Va., and Michael of Lincoln.

A funeral Mass will be said at 10 a.m. tomorrow in St. Julia's Church in Weston. Burial will be in St. Joseph's Cemetery in West Roxbury.