Albert E. Holl Jr., 92, longtime lawyer

Albert E. Holl Jr., 92, a lawyer in Media for 50 years, died Friday of pneumonia at Brandywine Hall in West Chester.

Mr. Holl grew up in Media and graduated from West Philadelphia Catholic High School. He earned a bachelor's degree from Villanova University and a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

During World War II, he served in the Army Signal Corps in the South Pacific, and participated in the landings on New Guinea and the Philippines. While stationed in the Philippines, he was appointed by his superiors to provide legal representation for a Japanese spy, who was later found guilty.

After his discharge as a captain, Mr. Holl married Agnes Tirrell Holt, whom he had met on a blind date. He and his wife raised 10 children in Wallingford.

Mr. Holl practiced law with the firm of Fronefield & deFuria in Media, retiring in 1983. He served on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Disciplinary Board, an agency that reviews the conduct of Pennsylvania lawyers. He also was an officer with Media Federal Savings & Loan, a board member of Riddle Memorial Hospital, and a founder of the Media Boys Club.

A jazz aficionado, he took up the clarinet when he was in his 40s and traveled to Philadelphia for weekly lessons. He was an enthusiastic vegetable gardener, a creative cook, and a talented linguist, his wife said. For his college thesis, he translated a German history, and later studied Spanish, Italian and Swedish.

Mr. Holl enjoyed family vacations, fishing and crabbing, and golfing with his children and grandchildren.

In addition to his wife of 62 years, he is survived by sons Robert, Christopher, Matthew, David, Joel and Jeremy; daughters Catherine Powers, Marie Louise Castellan and Emilie Letting; and 12 grandchildren. A son, Albert II, died in 1998.

A Funeral Mass will be at 11 a.m. today at SS. Peter and Paul Roman Catholic Church, 1325 Boot Rd., West Chester.