Jules Phineas Kirsch died peacefully and surrounded by his family on June 17 after a brief illness at his summer residence in Vineyard Haven. He was 93.

He was a consummate Upper West Side New Yorker, a passionate opera goer and world traveler. He was an avid runner who won many 5K races in his age group and ran his last 5K in Central Park three weeks before his death.

After growing up in a single-parent household in Baltimore during the Great Depression, he attended Johns Hopkins University on a full scholarship and graduated with a degree in mathematics. He subsequently served as a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy, deployed as a communications officer aboard the U.S.S. Healy, a Fletcher class destroyer.

Following his tour of duty, Jules attended Harvard Law School and became a civil rights attorney representing impoverished minorities in the Deep South in the mid-1960s.

Soon after, Jules joined Bell Laboratories as a patent attorney, and then transitioned to private practice as an intellectual property litigator for the next 30 years in New York City. Staying true to his social activism, he also served as the chairman of the Westchester county chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.

In the twilight of his legal career, he became regional enforcement counsel for the office of thrift supervision and participated in the civil prosecution of rogue banking executives during the savings and loan crisis in the late 1980s.

Following his retirement from the practice of law, he remained active in local and national politics. He most recently represented immigrants seeking a better life in the United States in immigration hearings in Lumpkin, Ga.

Jules is survived by his wife Joyce Morin Utz; his brother, Morton Kirsch; his three children, Debra Kirsch, Eric Kirsch and Mark Kirsch; and three grandchildren, Ariel Hughes, Phoebe Hughes and Kyle (Kai) Kirsch.