R.J. Soens Sr., 88, real estate agent

Roger J. Soens Sr., 88, a former trial lawyer who became one of the best-known names in Avalon real estate, died at his Avalon home Saturday of heart failure.

Mr. Soens, a former star receiver for the Roman Catholic High School football team, practiced law for 20 years in Center City before making a pivotal decision in 1967.

Eschewing the more-developed Stone Harbor, he decided to become a real estate broker in Avalon at a time when it was known more for mosquitoes than multimillion-dollar properties. It was a decision that more than paid off financially.

"I was making more with less effort than I was in Philadelphia," Mr. Soens said in an Inquirer interview in 1993.

Mr. Soens worked out of Avalon Real Estate, a business familiar to resort-town visitors because it is right at the foot of the 30th Street bridge.

Many people mistakenly thought he owned the business, said his son, Roger Soens Jr., who was actually one of the owners and at one time was Mr. Soens' employer.

For many years Mr. Soens and his wife, Mary, whom he married in 1941, lived in a beachfront house on 12th Street at the north end of the island. In later years, they lived in an Avalon condominium. She died in 2006.

Mr. Soens, who grew up in Langhorne, was born in Paris, and his family came to the United States when he was 3. He was a star pass-catcher at Roman Catholic and went to Villanova University on a football scholarship.

He gave up football, however, after injuring his knee and he transferred to the University of Pennsylvania, where he became a rower. He later graduated from Temple University Law School.

He served in the Navy during World War II, helping with the physical conditioning of recruits while stationed in Washington.

Roger Soens Jr. recalled that his father was athletic and quite handsome. He said that right after he got out of college, whenever he walked downtown with his father he would get a lesson in humility.

"The girls my age weren't looking at me," he said. "They were looking at him."

In addition to Roger Jr., he is survived by sons William and Craig; a daughter, Mary Theresa; 14 grandchildren; and 11 great-grandchildren. A fourth son, Dennis, is deceased.

A Funeral Mass will be said tomorrow at 11:30 a.m. at Maris Stella Roman Catholic Church, 5012 Dune Dr., Avalon, with a viewing at 10 a.m. Burial will be private.