Richard J. Flaster, tax lawyer

Richard J. Flaster, 67, of Cherry Hill, founding partner of the Flaster Greenberg law firm in Cherry Hill and Philadelphia, died suddenly Monday, Aug. 9, at home.

After working on Wall Street for a few years, Mr. Flaster decided to start his own practice, in South Jersey, instead of working intensely for someone else, his wife, Esther, said.

In 1972, Mr. Flaster and Emmanuel Liebman teamed up in a tax-law practice in Cherry Hill. The firm went through various name changes as new partners joined, but for at least 15 years, it has been Flaster Greenberg.

Though Mr. Flaster's expertise was tax law, he had the vision to expand the firm.

"He was instrumental in the strategy that the firm took," said managing shareholder Peter R. Spirgel. "It went from a tax boutique [firm] . . . to a full-service commercial law firm."

The firm serves private and publicly held companies in bankruptcy, health care, real estate, and intellectual property law through its five offices in the Philadelphia region and one in Trenton.

Throughout the years, Mr. Flaster wrote two books on tax law, and in 2002, he wrote Authority of Thieves, a thriller based on the Tax Reform Act of 1986.

"This was something I did for the challenge," he told an Inquirer reporter in 2003. "I don't claim that this is a great literary attempt."

Mr. Flaster was known for his warm and caring personality, but also for his vast collection of hippopotamuses. More than 1,400 hippos of all shapes, sizes, and materials were displayed at his Cherry Hill office.

"He's one of the most creative tax lawyers I've met," Spirgel said, adding that it was Mr. Flaster's creativity with taxes that made him so successful.

Mr. Flaster was born and raised in Queens and graduated from Bronx High School of Science in 1959.

Following in the footsteps of his accountant parents, Mr. Flaster graduated in 1963 with a degree in economics from the University of Pennsylvania. In 1969, he received his law degree from Harvard.

He married Esther Stomel in 1970.

Mr. Flaster clerked for a New York City judge for a short time right after law school and then took a poverty fellowship, Reginald Heber Smith Fellowship, during the Vietnam War.

In addition to his wife, Mr. Flaster is survived by a son, Eben; a daughter, Kiva Barr; three grandchildren; and a sister.

A visitation will be from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 12, at Platt Memorial Chapels, 2001 Berlin Rd., Cherry Hill. A funeral will follow at 11:30 a.m. at Platt.

Interment will be in Crescent Memorial Park.