Jim Pressler, a Washington lawyer who specialized in negligence and personal-injury cases, civil law and public-sector employment and was for 13 years general counsel to the Fraternal Order of Police in Washington, died Jan. 2 at a hospital in the District. He was 73.
The cause was complications from a brain aneurysm, said his wife, former Washington Post reporter Margaret Webb Pressler.
In 1981, Mr. Pressler established the law firm that became Pressler, Senftle & Wilhite, where he practiced for 40 years and served as president and managing partner. In an article for the firm’s website, his wife said he won “numerous multi-million-dollar verdicts and awards for clients in major motor vehicle, wrongful-death, product-liability and slip-and-fall cases.”
From 2006 to 2019 he was general counsel to D.C. police officers, representing officers in court and before law enforcement panels. His clients also included firefighters, Secret Service agents, U.S. Park Police officers and other law enforcement agency personnel.
Former D.C. police sergeant Joe Gentile, who retired in 2007 as a police spokesman, called Mr. Pressler “Clark Kent” for the “Superman” quality of his legal representation of police officers.
James William Pressler Jr., who lived in Washington, was born in Kingston, N.Y., on Aug. 8, 1948. His father was a mid-level executive with U.S. Rubber, now called Uniroyal, and his mother was a homemaker.
He received a bachelor’s degree in 1970 from Villanova University, where he was captain of the hockey team, and he graduated in 1974 from Suffolk University Law School in Boston.
Before establishing his law firm, Mr. Pressler was a clerk for defense lawyer F. Lee Bailey in Boston and was general counsel to the National Association of Government Employees in Washington.
In addition to his wife of 30 years, Mr. Pressler is survived by three children, Eleanor, Phoebe and William Pressler, all of Washington; and a brother.
In 2012, Margaret Pressler, then a Post science writer, wrote a book, “Cheat the Clock: How New Science Can Help You Look and Feel Younger,” in which she marveled at how her husband, 17 years her senior, always managed to look far younger than he was. She said the secret was simply to maintain good habits: flossing, a good diet, getting enough sleep, not stressing out, a good sex life, exercise without trying too hard, and getting home from work on time for dinner.
Menu
