Long before he became a respected medical malpractice attorney in Boston, Sidney Adler was a graduate student at Syracuse University, dedicated mostly to the study of law. But he allowed himself one distraction: the girl living across the hall.
It took a while for him and Janice Branning to break the ice, but once they began talking, it just felt right, she said.
With graduation pending, they talked about marriage. But Mr. Adler was worried. Before arriving at Syracuse, he had been diagnosed with aggressive melanoma, a form of skin cancer.
"He said, 'I don't know about this; it's a risk. I haven't cleared the five-year mark,' " she said. "I said, 'So I shouldn't fall in love with you, because you could die?' He said, 'Yes.' I said, 'But so could I! I could walk out the door and go right now!' "
The two were married just before Mr. Adler graduated from law school in 1979.
Mr. Adler, who was known as Sig, ultimately became a partner in the Boston law firm Adler, Cohen, Harvey, Wakeman and Guekguezian. He died of lung cancer at his home in Brighton on Friday. He was 55, and also had a home in Rangeley, Maine.
Growing up in Steubenville, Ohio, in the 1960s, Mr. Adler strongly opposed the Vietnam War and used his position as high school class president to express his opinion, his wife said. Over his school's loudspeaker one morning, he quoted Cicero: "An unjust peace is better than a just war."
Before entering college, he was drafted, but he obtained conscientious objector status and performed community service, his wife said. He earned an undergraduate degree in geography at Clark University in Worcester in 1976.
As a graduate student at Syracuse, Mr. Adler explored environmental law as an intern, but found his specialty with medical malpractice, his wife said. After moving to Boston in 1979, he worked with several law firms. In 1986, he met Ellen Cohen and the two founded the law firm in 1991. Mr. Adler specialized in cases involving chiropractics.
"He was completely unflappable," Cohen said. "He would reach his opinions quickly and have a very firm understanding of all the details. From then on, you could argue yourself blue in the face, but he just wouldn't move on it. And he would be right. His track record was unbelievable."
His expertise as a lawyer was based on his attention to detail and his personal involvement in his cases, said Cohen, who lives in Newton. She said he maintained a healthy sense of humor, no matter the situation.
"He had this very dry sort of wit that could just catch you like a softball," Cohen said. "And he was a fantastic cook. Every summer, he had all of the associate attorneys up to his house in Maine, and he and Janice would feed them all weekend."
His interest in cooking went back to his childhood, his wife said, when he did short-order cooking for his sisters' sleepover parties.
"My diet improved 200 percent when I met him," his wife said. "He really loved vegetables, especially really fresh, home-grown ones. The faster you could get them in the pan, the better."
After he was diagnosed with lung cancer in January, Mr. Adler helped to set up the Sig Adler Lung Cancer Research Fund.
"He didn't want it to be just for cancer, or just for palliative care," Cohen said. "He wanted his memory to be linked to research, to finding out more about how to save lives from lung cancer."
In addition to his wife, Mr. Adler leaves his daughter, Sarah of Brighton; his parents, David and Shirley of Hingham; three sisters, Ruth Rosensweig of Andover, Elaine Bresnick of Newton, and Jane Seiden, also of Newton; and a brother, Lee of Needham.
He was cremated. A service will be held tomorrow at 10 a.m. in Temple Ohabei Shalom in Brookline.
