Martin I. Moylan, retired lawyer, opera fan

Martin Ignatius Moylan, a retired attorney and opera fan, died of heart disease Nov. 23 at his Homeland residence. He was 86.

Born in Baltimore and raised in the 900 block of Forrest St., he was the son of Martin Wright Moylan, a land records title searcher, and his wife, Angelina Borsella, a sales associate at the old O’Neill’s department store.

“My father recalled a colorful childhood in the depth of the Depression, including roaming the old wharfs of the Inner Harbor and meeting veterans of the Civil War at the 75th anniversary of Gettysburg in1938,” said one of his sons, Garrett County District Court Judge Stephan Moylan.

He attended St. John School and was a 1950 graduate of Baltimore Polytechnic Institute. He enlisted in the Navy, where he served for three years as an Electrical Technician 3rd Class on the aircraft carrier USS Bennington.

Mr. Moylan has a bachelor’s degree and a law degree from the University of Baltimore.

He joined the legal departments of the old Maryland Casualty Company, the Interstate Commerce Commission and the Fidelity & Deposit Company.

Mr. Moylan served on the Maryland Criminal Injuries Compensation Board from1969 to 1984. He was also secretary and treasurer of the International Association of Criminal Injuries Compensation Boards and was the chair of the National Association of Crime Victims Compensation Boards.

He practiced law in Towson until he retired in 1998.

“My father successfully argued cases in front of the Maryland Court of Appeals,” his son said.

In 1966 and in 1972 Mr. Moylan ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the Maryland House of Delegates in the old 5th District of Baltimore County.

Family members said he was an opera fan and a past member of the Baltimore Opera Company, and had met the tenor Luciano Pavarotti three times. He was also a past president of the Sveaborg Society of Baltimore, a Swedish American organization. He met the King of Sweden and accompanied him on a tour of Baltimore during a Tall Ships visit.

In 1965, Mr. Moylan married Birgitta Jansson, who emigrated to the United States from Sweden.

A funeral Mass will be held at 10 a.m. Friday at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen, 5200 N. Charles St., where he had been a member.

In addition to his wife of 54 years, a retired Johns Hopkins microbiologist and allergy researcher, and son, survivors include another son, Christopher Moylan of Uppsala, Sweden; a daughter, Martina Dilks of Baltimore; a brother, William “Billy” Moylan of Baltimore; a sister, Ann Marie Pintavalle of Red Hook, New York; and seven grandchildren.