Ten days before he died, Greensburg attorney Timothy J. McCormick called close friend and fellow lawyer Michael Stewart to tell him that the leukemia McCormick had been battling for two years had taken a turn for the worst.
And though his prognosis was dire, McCormick asked Stewart if he could tend to a pending case on his behalf.
“He's 10 days away from dying, and he's making sure that one of his clients is taken care of,” said Stewart, a Greensburg attorney who was friends with McCormick for more than 30 years.
Timothy J. McCormick, who recently moved from Greensburg to Pawleys Island, S.C., died on Sunday, June 17, 2012, in Charleston, S.C. He was 59.
Mr. McCormick lived nearly his entire life in Greensburg, moving in recent months to a home he and his wife, Linda, own in South Carolina after deciding to wrap up his 33-year legal career in Westmoreland County due to his illness.
Mr. McCormick seemed predestined to become an attorney, following in the footsteps of his grandfather and father.
He was admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar in 1979 and began working in the Westmoreland County Public Defenders Office for Dante Bertani, who became a close friend and mentor.
Bertani called Mr. McCormick one of the best criminal defense attorneys in the county.
“I think he had a good sense of himself and a good sense of other people,” Bertani said. “He knew when to be difficult and when to back down, when to be accommodating and when to press to the utmost. He had good judgment.”
Stewart remembers meeting Mr. McCormick when they were young lawyers in motions court, where the latter would always have a wisecrack to offer.
“I just took an instant liking to him,” Stewart said. “... I'll remember that nobody could tell a story better than Tim McCormick, He could tell stories and he'd be irreverent in the process, and you'd just smile and laugh as he tells the story.”
For 21 years, the pair practiced law together before Mr. McCormick formed his solo firm in 2002.
“He was a great lawyer. He was a tremendous advocate,” Stewart said. “He was knowledgeable, confident, well-prepared, and he would go to all ends for his client.”
He served as solicitor for the City of Greensburg from 1992 until this year.
Former Greensburg Mayor Karl Eisaman knew Mr. McCormick professionally and as a friend. The two met as youngsters.
Eisaman said his friend loved the city he called home.
“He really shared with council and with all the city employees his love for the city of Greensburg and worked diligently on all the projects to renovate the city in the past 10 to 12 years,” Eisaman said.
As hard as he fought for his clients, Mr. McCormick also fought leukemia, which was diagnosed in May 2010.
“Even though he wasn't able to win that battle, he had a lot of good days during that last two years and two months, and the biggest was walking his (youngest) daughter down the aisle,” Stewart said.
Family, including his wife, son, David, and daughters, Meghan Denny and Emily Saba, was important to Mr. McCormick.
In fact, Stewart thought it appropriate that his friend lived until Father's Day.
“I think the only thing he enjoyed more than his work was his family,” Stewart said. “He was just a great father.”
A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday in Seton Hill University's Performing Arts Center, 100 Harrison Ave., Greensburg.
Donations can be made to the Western Pennsylvania Humane Society and The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in his honor.
Jennifer Reeger is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at 724-836-6155 or jreeger@tribweb.com.
