Retired Judge Thomas A. Pitt Jr. dies at 85

Esteemed judge recalled as a ‘consummate gentleman’ who ‘treated everybody equally’

WEST CHESTER » Thomas A. Pitt Jr., the retired Chester County Common Pleas judge who rose to legal prominence in his hometown but who never lost the friendly touch of a man of the people, has died. He was 85.

His son, Thomas A. Pitt III, confirmed his death on Saturday at the Exton Senior Living community in Uwchlan.

“He was very dedicated to his family, a very devoted Catholic,

and very civic minded,” his son said Tuesday. “The law was his life.”

Pitt was remembered fondly by those in the county legal world for his kindness and legal acumen, but also for his ability to relate to all who crossed his path, no matter their outward social standing.

“He was the consummate gentleman,” said attorney Dawson R. “Rich” Muth, who was mentored by Pitt on his first run for election to the bench as a district justice in West Chester. He credited Pitt with helping him win.

“I had a lot of convincing to do to let people know I was mature enough to handle the job,” Muth recalled, standing in the halls of the county Justice Center. “Having Judge Pitt in my corner proved a huge, huge benefit to me.

“He could speak to people across all strata of life,” Muth added. “He was a man’s man, and could move in any circle, from the wealthiest to the poorest. He treated everybody equally, regardless of their standing in life. And when he gave you his word, it was rock solid.”

County President Judge Jacqueline Carroll Cody, who knew Pitt both inside the courthouse and outside, said she remembered him as “being very kind, and very supportive. He was a good man.” Several times a year, she and others would join with Pitt in remembering, at an informal luncheon, the late Judge D.T. Marrone, with whom Pitt served on the bench. “He always had something to say to make people laugh.”

Cody said that she never practiced in front of Pitt when he was judge, but that in a turn of events he appeared before her shortly after she became a judge in 1992. “Our roles were reversed, but he was a very calm and controlling presence in the courtroom, even as an attorney.”

Senior Judge Thomas Gavin said Tuesday that, “like everybody else, I was saddened to hear the news of Judge Pitt’s passing. He was always very good to me,

“He was a very forceful presence in the courtroom, and he brooked no nonsense. But he was the sort of person who had to practice his stern looks, because they didn’t come naturally. Outside, he was gregarious, pleasant, and friendly.”

and when I started my career he took me under his wing – a fellow Marine and an Irish boy.” Gavin said he and another fellow judge, Howard F. Riley Jr., had been able to have lunch with Pitt over the past few years. “He never changed. He always had a smile on his face and a story to tell.”

Attorney James Freeman of Phoenixville, who practiced before Pitt in the 1970s, said that there were two sides to him, one in the courtroom and one outside. “He was a very forceful presence in the courtroom, and he brooked no nonsense,” Freeman said. “But he was the sort of person who had to practice his stern looks, because they didn’t come naturally. Outside, he was gregarious, pleasant, and friendly.”

Not one necessarily to seek the spotlight, Pitt nevertheless became recognized in legal circles in 1980 when he tried the first-degree murder case against Richard Greist, an East Coventry man who in May 1978 killed his wife, cut their unborn child from her body, stabbed his 6-year-old daughter in the eye, and slashed his grandmother with a knife.

Pitt heard the case without a jury, and listened to testimony by defense experts that Greist was criminally insane at the time of the killing, believing that all women, including his wife, Janice, were possessed by the devil. In a ruling that shocked members of the legal community and the county at large, Pitt found Greist not guilty by reason of insanity. In his eightpage decision, he wrote that Greist, then 27 years old, “at the time he caused his wife’s death was a raving lunatic and a madman.”

As such, he could not be held criminally liable for the commission of the murder charge he faced. Greist, now in his late 60s, has been confined to Norristown State Hospital ever since.

His son said he did not remember his father discussing the Greist case with him afterwards. His view on the law was as a teacher and partner, and encouraged those around him to take a less confrontational view than some attorneys, Pitt III said.

“He taught me to look at every case from both sides,” he recalled. “You don’t always take your client’s view or story as verbatim. If you can see how the other side might views things, then you will be more likely able to come up with a reasonable solution to the issues.”

Born in West Chester in 1933 during the depths of the Great Depression, Pitt’s father, Thomas A. Pitt Sr., was the buildings supervisor at the then-West Chester State Teachers College, now West Chester University. He was educated at St. Agnes Church’s grade school and high school, and then attended Villanova University and Villanova School of Law. After serving as a captain in the U.S. Marine Corps as a naval aviator who flew jet fighters and helicopters, he returned home to begin the practice of law.

His son said that at the time in West Chester, private attorneys would take turns acting as the local prosecutor, which his father did on occasion. He maintained a private practice until 1970, when he was elected to the Common Pleas bench. He stayed there for 10 years, retiring from the court in 1980 and returning to private practice. He retired in 2007, but also taught at Delaware School of Law, Alvernia College, and Immaculata University.

Pitt was a member of West Chester Golf and Country Club and Concord Country Club and served as president of Concord Country Club, where he enjoyed many rounds of golf with his late wife Eileen Murphy “Nana” Pitt and their friends. Among the proud moments of his golf life came in 2013, when his son Michael Pitt and grandsons Liam and Evan Pitt each recorded holes-in-one at the West Chester club on successive days.

He was a lifelong parishioner of St. Agnes Church where he sang in the choir and was chairman of the Bicentennial Committee.

In addition to his eldest son, he is survived by his daughter Joan Eileen Pitt, and sons James Keeley Pitt, Terence McGary Pitt, and Michael O’Connell Pitt. Also surviving are his grandchildren: Shannon McLeod Pitt, Thomas Anthony Pitt IV, Julia Kearney Pitt, Katherine Murphy Pitt, Garrett Christopher Pitt, Gabriele Eileen Pitt, Gavin Shumway Pitt, Evan Michael Pitt, Susannah Eileen Pitt, and Liam Andrew Pitt. In addition to his wife and parents, he was preceded in death by his siblings, Mary Catherine Dalton and Terence Pitt.

Relatives and friends are invited to his visitations on Wednesday from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the DellaVecchia, Reilly, Smith & Boyd Funeral Home, 410 N. Church St., West Chester, and on Thursday from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. at St. Agnes Church, 233 W. Gay St., West Chester, followed by his funeral mass at 10 a.m. Interment will be in St. Agnes Cemetery West Chester.

To contact staff writer Michael P. Rellahan call 610-696-1544.

Thomas A. Pitt Jr.