Robert J. Sugarman, 70, lawyer and activist

Robert J. Sugarman, 70, of Pineville, Bucks County, a lawyer, environmentalist and political strategist, died Friday of prostate cancer at home.

For more than 40 years, Mr. Sugarman fought local governments and developers to secure what he believed were the rights of the people, his son, Kenneth, said.

In the late 1960s, he opposed a South Street expressway that would have destroyed homes and businesses. "Bob was key to stopping the plan," community activist Carol Ann Weisenfeld said.

In Philadelphia, Mr. Sugarman was also responsible for the preservation of a threatened row of homes in University City in the 1970s, and in 2000 he represented a group of Chinatown residents opposing a baseball stadium plan.

In Delaware County, as Newtown Township solicitor, Mr. Sugarman wrote a 1982 ordinance limiting residential construction near the Crum Creek watershed. Last year, he was active with the Save Ardmore Commission in its fight to preserve commercial buildings.

A resident of Bucks County for more than 20 years, Mr. Sugarman also represented citizens groups who opposed the Point Pleasant Pumping station; a cobalt irradiator in Milford Township; and the Route 202 Expressway.

In 1999, he took legal action that resulted in the razing of a house that had been illegally built on land along French Creek. "It's like building a house in the middle of Yellowstone National Park," he told a reporter.

Mr. Sugarman had a diverse group of legal clients. In the 1980s, he represented State Sen. Vincent Fumo, who wanted to build a house in Washington Square West (he won approval but the house was never built.) Last year, Mr. Sugarman saved North Philadelphia homeowner Mary Smith's house from condemnation.

He hated the NIMBY - not in my backyard - attitude, and instead thought carefully and critically about projects and was willing to compromise, his son said.

A lifelong advocate for community activism, Mr. Sugarman in February cofounded the PennFuture Center for Grassroots Support.

In the 1960s, Mr. Sugarman was among a group of Democrats who started a movement to elect independent candidates and to include African Americans in mainstream politics.

Mr. Sugarman was active in campaigns to elect Hardy Williams to the Pennsylvania legislature and helped launch Williams' bid for mayor in 1971. In the 1980s, he was a leader in the movement to elect Mayor Wilson Goode.

He was past president of Americans for Democratic Action im  Philadelphia and  former chairman of the Montgomery County Democratic Party. He served on numerous boards including the Public Law Center of Philadelphia, Community Legal Services, and the Foundation for Architecture, and was a legal consultant to the National Water Quality Commission.

A native of Meriden, Conn., Mr. Sugarman earned a bachelor's degree from Brown University. He studied history at Stanford University on a Ford Foundation Fellowship and then earned a law degree from Harvard University, where he was editor of the law review. He clerked for a year for a federal judge and then joined the firm of Dechert, Price & Rhoads in Philadelphia.

In 1978, he became chair the U.S. section of the International Joint Commission, which is responsible for advising the United States and Canada about border disputes. He returned to the practice of law in the early 1980s.

Mr. Sugarman loved Mozart, Picasso, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and the people, history, and beauty of Bucks County, his son said.

In addition to his son, Mr. Sugarman is survived by his wife of 13 years, Kathleen Knoppel Sugarman; daughters Karen, Jane, Lily and Gabrielle; a sister; a brother; and his former wife, Adelaide. He was predeceased by a former wife, Colleen.

The funeral will be at 11 a.m. today at Grace Presbyterian Church, 444 Old York Rd., Jenkintown. Friends may call at 11 a.m.

Memorial donations may be made to the Pennsylvania Land Use Coalition, Box 474, Forest Grove, Pa. 18922.