Robert F. Lucas, 72; longtime lawyer devoted to his community

ROBERT F. LUCAS

Robert F. Lucas was a lawyer so deeply committed to his field that colleagues commonly described him as "one of the last guys on the face of the earth who actually loves to practice law," his family said.

"He believed that every person should dedicate their talents to their community," said his son, David of Melrose.

And Mr. Lucas acted on that belief, chairing the Melrose Board of Appeals for 20 years, serving for a time as city solicitor, and incorporating several youth sports leagues and scholarships in Melrose, where he lived.

Mr. Lucas, a partner at the Wakefield firm Nigro, Pettepit & Lucas LLP, died of a heart attack July 11 at Massachusetts General Hospital. He was 72. For the past year, he had pancreatic cancer and continued to practice law during his treatment.

Amid his practice and decades of after-hours community work, family was at the center of everything he did, his son said. With them, the somewhat reserved man was a different person someone best described as "larger than life."

Typical of Mr. Lucas's "over-the-top" persona, his wife, Regina (Abbiati), said, was last Mother's Day, when he surprised her, his daughter, two daughters-in-law, and granddaughter - who were out to a special dinner - with huge bouquets of roses at each spot at the restaurant table.

"It was a riot," said Regina. "All of the waitresses were standing around to see how we would react. It was just an enormous display, and that's how he was at home."

Born in Beacon Falls, Conn., Mr. Lucas graduated from the Taft School in Watertown, Conn., and headed north to Lewiston, Maine, to attend Bates College.

He aspired to a career as a play-by-play sports radio broadcaster before a professor talked him into law instead, his son said.

While a senior at Bates, Mr. Lucas met his future wife, who was then a freshman. After graduating with his bachelor's degree in 1956, Mr. Lucas attended Boston University School of Law. He received his juris doctorate in 1959, and he and Regina were married the following year.

Before settling into practice, Mr. Lucas enlisted in the Army and served as a clerk to the officers in the Judge Advocate General's Corps. He narrowly missed deployment to Vietnam; only a couple of weeks after he was discharged, his unit shipped out, his son said.

In 1962, Mr. Lucas became a partner in the Wakefield law firm. As was common at the time he began practicing, Mr. Lucas was a career general practitioner and litigator with an expansive knowledge of the law, said Gene Nigro, Mr. Lucas's partner.

"He would work for the underdog, he would work for people who he thought were right even though the odds might not be in their favor or the laws might not appear to be in their favor," Nigro said. "And he often won. He wasn't afraid of bad odds."

Mr. Lucas was also active in the Commonwealth's legal community, serving until recently as the vice president of the Massachusetts Bar Association. He was a 33d degree Scottish Rite Mason and a member of Fidelity Lodge and held several leadership positions in the fraternal organization.

In May, Mr. Lucas was recognized by the Masons with the Henry Price Medal, the highest honor that the grand master of Masons in Massachusetts may present, his son said.

A 45-year member of First United Methodist Church in Melrose, Mr. Lucas also lent his booming bass voice to the choir and his leadership to the church's administrative board.

For all his work in Melrose, Mayor Robert Dolan had city flags flown at half-staff the day he died.

In addition to his wife and son, David, Mr. Lucas leaves another son, Robert Jr. of Acton; a daughter, Jennifer of Belmont; a brother, Reed Gogan of Waterbury, Conn.; a granddaughter; and two grandsons.

A funeral service will be held at 10 a.m. today in First United Methodist Church in Melrose.