Obituaries

Harrison B. McCawley Jr.Tax Attorney

Harrison Byington McCawley Jr., 84, a tax attorney who wrote and edited tax management portfolios, died March 8 of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at the Washington Home in the District. He was a Fort Washington resident.

Mr. McCawley was born in the District and served in Europe with the Army's 78th Division in Belgium and Germany during World War II. After being hospitalized for severe hearing loss as a result of being near artillery noise, he elected to stay in Europe. He commanded prisoner-of-war camps in and around Paris. He also learned French and a smattering of Russian despite his hearing difficulties.

He was accepted to Harvard Law School but decided to return to France to be near a woman he had met during the war. She was touring the Mediterranean with her sisters in a song-and-dance act. To be close to her, he landed a job with the U.S. Air Force in Chateauroux, France. The two married in 1953.

Mr. McCawley received a law degree at Harvard in 1951 and began a career in government as a staff attorney for the Joint Committee on Internal Revenue Taxation. He eventually became the committee's chief counsel.

Retiring from government service in the late 1970s, he joined the Washington firm of Silverstein and Mullens, where he wrote and edited tax management portfolios that were published by the Bureau of National Affairs as basic guidebooks for the nation's accounting firms.

He retired again in 2001 but continued to write and edit management portfolios and to provide tax advice and counsel.

Retirement gave him more time to indulge his one true passion -- horses. He spent hours analyzing the Daily Racing Form and would drag willing companions to Laurel, Pimlico or other tracks to watch races. He eventually switched to Internet betting and placed a wager from his hospital bed a few days before his death. His son planned to check his offshore account to see whether the bet came through.

A secondary passion was the actress Helen Mirren. Mr. McCawley had seen all of her movies and reviewed them for several online Mirren sites.

Survivors include his wife of 54 years, Lilette McCawley of Fort Washington; two children, Nicole Reidy of Trinidad, Colo., and Harry McCawley of Silver Spring; two granddaughters; and a brother.

-- Joe Holley