William Barnes, lawyer and engineer
William McLellan Barnes, 88, of Philadelphia, a lawyer and engineer, died Thursday, Aug. 11, of acute kidney failure at Visiting Nurse Association Hospice in East Falls.
William McLellan Barnes, 88, of Philadelphia, a lawyer and engineer, died Thursday, Aug. 11, of acute kidney failure at Visiting Nurse Association Hospice in East Falls.
The son of Philadelphia architect Amos W. Barnes, he was born in 1928 at Good Samaritan Hospital, now Temple University Hospital, which his father had designed.
Mr. Barnes grew up in Roxborough, and was president of his class at Roxborough High School and a member of the National Honor Society. He also had a letter in varsity football.
Upon graduation in 1945, he enrolled at Drexel University. He majored in civil engineering and played football all four years before graduating in 1950.
He was a member of Theta Chi fraternity and the Army ROTC Scabbard and Blade Society at Drexel.
Mr. Barnes' first job was as a project engineer for the Tennessee Valley Authority, building dams and power plants in eastern Tennessee and Kentucky.
Mr. Barnes was an active member of the Army National Guard, 103rd Engineer Battalion.
During the Korean War, he was called to active duty and served in Korea as an engineering officer, building airfields.
After the war, he enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He completed his law degree in 1957, and afterward joined the Philadelphia law firm of Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis. He became a partner in 1968.
Mr. Barnes was a member of the firm's litigation services department and the construction litigation group. His practice also included matters involving administrative agencies, transportation law, and family law.
His clients included the Yellow Cab Co. and United Parcel Service. He retired from his law practice in 1993, but continued to go to work almost daily until just before his death.
Mr. Barnes was president of the Lawyers' Club of Philadelphia from 1989 to 1990.
An active civic volunteer, Mr. Barnes was a founding board member of the Roxborough YMCA and a 25-year board member of Roxborough Memorial Hospital.
He was clerk of session, the head lay person, at Wissahickon Presbyterian Church, was a 50-year member of the Union League of Philadelphia, and was active in the Palestine-Roxborough Lodge of the Masons.
"He was really all about community and social gatherings," said daughter Michelle Mactavish. "He loved having his family gather at his homes in Rehoboth Beach."
Besides his daughter, he is survived by his wife of 65 years, Marie Louise Barnes; sons William Jr. and Jonathan; daughter Elizabeth Drayton; and 10 grandchildren.
A viewing starting at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 17, at the Bringhurst & Turner Funeral Home, 225 Belmont Ave., Bala Cynwyd, will be followed by a funeral service at 11. Interment is in Westminster Cemetery, Bala Cynwyd.
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