Bruce L. Castor, longtime law partner at Ballard Spahr, has died at 95

Bruce L. Castor, 95, of Worcester, Montgomery County, retired partner at the Ballard Spahr law firm, bar association lecturer, competitive golfer, Army veteran, mentor, and volunteer, died Tuesday, July 29, of heart failure at his home.

An expert on taxes, estate planning, estate and trust administration, and Orphans’ Court litigation, Mr. Castor worked at Ballard Spahr for 48 years, from 1956 to his retirement in 2004. He was affable, colleagues said, and empathetic with clients, and former coworker Robert McQuiston noted his “remarkable gift for defusing even the most emotionally charged family situations.”

He joined the law firm then known as Ballard, Spahr, Andrews, & Ingersoll after college, law school at the University of Pennsylvania, and a two-year tour in the Army. He rose to partner in 1965 and managing partner in 1979, and supervised the firm’s Trusts and Estates Department from 1986 through 1996.

Fellow lawyers praised his “steady demeanor and his expertise” in an online tribute. Senior counsel Regina O’Brien Thomas said: “He was smart, engaging, and very helpful.” His son, Bruce L. Castor Jr., said: “He was a logical thinker and could naturally spot a flaw in other people’s arguments.”

Mr. Castor lectured often about trust and estate planning issues to bar association members in Pennsylvania and Delaware. He was a member of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, and on boards for the Presbyterian Home for Aged Couples and Aged Persons, the Meadowbrook School, the old Springside School, and Abington Presbyterian Church.

He was onetime counsel to Pennsylvania Hospital and responsible for evaluating troubled patients eligible for discharge. “Bruce was the epitome of the three C’s,” McQuiston said, “calm, cool, and collected.”

In a tribute, Katayun I. Jaffari, chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar Association, called Mr. Castor “an active and passionate attorney” and cited “the privilege of working alongside Bruce.” Bruce L. Castor Jr. was district attorney of Montgomery County from 2000 to 2008, and he appointed his father as a special assistant DA for a time to handle fraud cases concerning wills, estates, and trusts.

On the golf course, Mr. Castor played at Torresdale Frankford Country Club as a young man, was team captain at Lafayette College, and held memberships later at Huntingdon Valley Country Club and Pine Valley Golf Club. He was routinely listed among the top local golfers in The Inquirer’s sports pages in the 1960s, and he competed in tournaments abroad for years in Northern Ireland and elsewhere.

He served as secretary at Huntingdon Valley Country Club and especially enjoyed playing rounds with relatives, friends, and clients. He studied the game closely and even made his own clubs.

Mr. Castor was drafted into the Army in 1954 after law school and served two years as a counterintelligence agent in West Germany. “He was a very gentle guy,” his son said.

Bruce Lee Castor was born Aug. 26, 1929, the middle of three sons. He grew up in the Holmesburg section of Philadelphia, played baseball and golf as a boy, and told stories later of memorable trolley rides to old Shibe Park at 21st Street and Lehigh Avenue for Phillies games.

He graduated second in his class at Frankford High School in 1947 and earned a bachelor’s degree with honors in economics at Lafayette in 1951 and his law degree at Penn in 1954. At Lafayette, he was an editor on the school newspaper and a finalist for a Rhodes Scholarship and a school achievement award. At Penn, he was on the board of the Law Review and editor-in-chief in 1953 and ’54.

He married Diane Shaffer in 1960, and they had a son, Bruce Jr., and a daughter, Edie. They lived in Abington, Ambler, Upper Gwynedd, Skippack, and Worcester.

Mr. Castor loved animals and almost always had a dog at his feet. He enjoyed photography, joined the Freemasons, and served as best man at his son’s wedding.

He went back to Lafayette for football games and was particularly proud that he, his son, and his grandson shared the name Bruce, all went to Lafayette, and all became golf-loving lawyers. When his son needed advice on practically anything, he said, he went right to Mr. Castor.

“He listened more than he talked,” his son said, “and when he talked, people listened.”

In addition to his wife and children, Mr. Castor is survived by two grandchildren, a brother, and other relatives. A brother died earlier.

Visitation with the family is to be from 10 to 11:15 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 13, at Abington Presbyterian Church, 1082 Old York Rd., Abington, Pa. 19001. A service is to follow and then interment at Whitemarsh Memorial Park, 1169 Limekiln Pike, Ambler, Pa. 19002.

Donations in his name may be made to the Montgomery County SPCA, 19 E. Ridge Pike, Box 222, Conshohocken, Pa. 19428.