Noted environmentalist, lawyer and teacher Richard S. Emmet of Westford and Chappaquonsett, husband of Alan Summersby Emmet, died on July 27 at the age of 82.

He was born in New York city on Oct. 1, 1924, the son of Helen Pratt Philbin and Richard Stockton Emmet. He was educated at St. Paul's School and graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College. He obtained a law degree from Harvard Law School and a master's degree in education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He served his country in World War II in the U.S. Army Air Force from 1943 to 1946. He was a tax lawyer at Ropes & Gray in Boston in the 1950s and was a teacher and administrator at The Buckingham, Browne & Nichols School in Cambridge from 1957 to 1983. He then returned to the practice of law at the Conservation Law Foundation in Boston for 14 years. Throughout his adult life, he served on boards of the Mass Audubon, the Environmental League of Massachusetts, Maine Audubon, the Town of Westford, Buckingham, Browne & Nichols, the Conservation Law Foundation and many more.

Richard Emmet's connection to the Vineyard extended back more than 60 years. His mother, Helen Philbin was responsible for the donation to the town of Aquinnah the beach which bears her name. He and family spent many happy summers at their home at Chappaquonsett, where they gave a conservation restriction protecting 16 acres in 2003. Through gifts of land and conservation restrictions, he also preserved large areas of fast-growing Westford where he served as a selectman for many years. His most substantial land conservation achievement came in working with Ducks Unlimited and other organizations, when he helped to conserve nearly 13,000 acres of land in low country South Carolina in the Ashepoo, Combahee and Edisto River Basin, one of the largest undeveloped estuaries on the East Coast.

On Martha's Vineyard, he recognized the need for a strong environmental legal defense voice and supported the environmental advocacy work of the Vineyard Conservation Society. VCS executive director Brendan O'Neill said, "Dick Emmet provided counsel on many of the major environmental and land use disputes this Island confronted over the last twenty years. We will miss his thoughtful guidance."

His interest in advocacy and community service extended to human affairs as well as the environment. In 1965, he joined Dr. Martin Luther King's march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala., protesting segregation. He also served as a vestryman at Trinity Episcopal Church in Concord and Saint Mark's Episcopal Parish in Westford. He attended Grace Episcopal Church in Vineyard Haven during the summer.

He took great pride in his Irish heritage as a descendant of Thomas Addis Emmet, a lawyer and doctor in Dublin and later New York who was active in the cause of Irish independence in the late 1700s. Thomas Emmet was the elder brother of the Irish nationalist revolutionary Robert Emmet, executed by the British in 1803. Dick Emmet traveled to Ireland in 2003 to participate in Robert Emmet bicentenary activities.

He was a talented organic gardener, a champion oarsman on the Harvard crew in the late 1940s, and he raced a single shell in the Head of the Charles regatta each year until the late 1980s. He was an avid sailor and swimmer and ornithologist. In his later years, he carved and painted hundreds of wooden birds.

His love of the land and sea filled his days wherever he was. Each day on the Vineyard would start with a dawn walk to watch birds at Quansoo, Squibnocket or out on the Great Plains and an early morning swim and row down the Sound. After a few hours carving birds in his studio, the morning would always end with a long swim down and back to the opening of Tashmoo. Afternoons would be devoted to sailing, reading, and more bird carving. Evenings would be spent with family and friends over a quiet dinner, often including storytelling and singing.

Richard Emmet was a man of grace and conviction. He led a full and thoughtful life and was loved by many. He strove to make the world a better place and succeeded admirably in that quest.

Besides his wife Alan, he is survived by a daughter, Caroline (Emmet) Heald of Alexandria, Va., two sons; Henry Temple Emmet of Groton and William Temple Emmet of New Haven, Conn., and six grandchildren. He also leaves a sister Katharine Temple Emmet of Brooklyn, N.Y., and three brothers; Robert Emmet of Shaker Heights, Ohio, David Schroeder of Bedford, N.H., and Harry Schroeder of Key West, Fla. Another sister, Jane Emmet Drake, died earlier, as did his brother William Temple Emmet, who was killed in World War II.

Services were held yesterday in Cambridge. Memorial contributions may be made to the Massachusetts Audubon Society, the Conservation Law Foundation or Emerson Hospital.