Justice Department Prosecutor, Liaison to European Union

Mark M. Richard, 69, a longtime federal deputy assistant attorney general who oversaw criminal investigations including probes into political fundraising schemes and counterterrorism and counterespionage matters, died May 23 at his home in Charlottesville of pancreatic cancer.

Mr. Richard, a prosecutor in the criminal division of the U.S. Department of Justice for 40 years, served for 16 attorneys general, from Ramsey Clark to Alberto R. Gonzales. Current Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., who spoke at Mr. Richard's funeral, called him a mentor and said he sought Mr. Richard's advice on international legal issues this spring.

Mr. Richard's career began early, when he worked as a probation officer in Brooklyn, N.Y. He joined the Justice Department in 1967, just after graduating from Brooklyn Law School, and became chief of the fraud section. In 1979, he was promoted to deputy assistant attorney general, a post he held for 20 years.

Mr. Richard had a hand in investigating a variety of individuals and cases: suspected mismanagement by Carter administration budget director Bert Lance; presidential brother Billy Carter, who lobbied for Libya; Jonathan Pollard, accused of spying for Israel; the federal intervention of the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Tex.; and a mid-1990s probe of questionable campaign contributions to the Democratic National Committee.

From 1999 until retiring in 2007, Mr. Richard was the Justice Department's representative to the European Union. After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, he led efforts to coordinate counterterrorism activities and helped negotiate groundbreaking extradition and mutual legal assistance treaties with EU countries.

Considered a pillar of the department, Mr. Richard received many honors for his work, including a Presidential Rank Award, two Attorney General's Exceptional Service awards and the Director's Award from the CIA.

He received the D.C. Bar's Beatrice Rosenberg Award for Excellence in Government Service, for which the department's nomination said: "One cannot overstate the degree to which the criminal division and the Department of Justice have come to rely on the counsel of Mark Richard and have benefited from his growing legacy of effective enforcement programs, of aggressive but fair prosecutions, and of the many lawyers in federal service for whom he has served as respected teacher, sage, counsel and generous colleague."

Mr. Richard was born in New York City and grew up in Brooklyn. His father died when he was young, and as he prepared for his bar mitzvah at age 12, his grandfather died. That event forced a change in the date of the ceremony and left him with insufficient time to learn the Torah. In later years, he decided it was time for a "do-over."

In April, surrounded by family members and sustained by a dose of chemotherapy, he "performed like a champ," said his rabbi, Daniel S. Alexander of Congregation Beth Israel in Charlottesville. His wife, Sheila Richard, completed a bat mitzvah at the same time.

"But the championship performance that mattered had nothing to do with the accuracy or fluency of the Hebrew," Alexander said in a sermon two days later. "It had everything to do with using limited strength and limited time to heed a call of one's heart."

Mr. Richard was a former resident of Silver Spring.

In addition to his wife, of Charlottesville, survivors include three children, Cara Richard of Baltimore, Alisa Levin of Bethesda and Daniel Richard of Chevy Chase; and four grandchildren.