David Friedman, lawyer and actor

David A. Friedman, 56, of Yardley, a lawyer and actor, died of brain cancer Friday at St. Mary Medical Center in Langhorne.

Since 1989, Mr. Friedman had been a lawyer for the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights in Philadelphia. He received commendations for his work on disability, race, and other discrimination issues.

Mr. Friedman performed with the Philadelphia Bar Association Theater Wing at law conferences and other venues, and also performed in community theater.

"His rare, artful, and sometimes sardonic sense of humor shimmered in his writing, improvisations and comedic timing," wrote A. Taylor Williams, a lawyer who appeared in productions with Mr. Friedman.

His skill extended to dramatic works as well, she said. He wrote a drama about the integration of schools in Arkansas, An American Girl in Little Rock, and portrayed Gov. Orval Faubus in the play, staged for Black History Month celebrations, she said. Mr. Friedman and Williams taught continuing education courses on theatrical techniques in the courtroom.

He was a graduate of Pennsbury High School and represented the school in a national debate competition, and earned a bachelor's degree from Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa. While earning a law degree from the John Marshall School of Law in Chicago, he participated in a national moot court competition.

Before joining the Department of Education, Mr. Friedman was a law clerk for a Bucks County Court judge; served on U.S. Sen. John Heinz's community affairs staff; was a Pennsylvania deputy attorney general; and was counsel for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

In 2004, Mr. Friedman wrote in The Inquirer about his memories of growing up in Yardley. He and his friends would fish in the Delaware on Saturday afternoons, he said, or take a bus to Trenton for a $5 afternoon of movies, hobby stores and pizza parlors.

A loyal Eagles fan, he was annoyed by newer Yardley residents who, he said, drive the wrong way into parking lots and "zoom off in their SUVs with the New York Giants bumper stickers. "

Mr. Friedman is survived by his mother, Florence Federwicz Friedman, and his longtime companion, Anne Parrish.

The funeral was yesterday at Congregation Kol Emet, 1360 Oxford Valley Rd., Yardley. Burial was in Montefiore Cemetery, Jenkintown.