Longtime U.S. Attorney's Office Mainstay

Thomas J. Tourish Jr., 60, the deputy chief of the appellate division of the U.S. attorney's office in the District for 25 years, died July 2 at Casey House in Rockville. He had pseudomyxoma peritonei, a rare cancer of the abdominal cavity.

Mr. Tourish was the office's acknowledged expert on the admissibility of other crimes in trials and exemptions to the law of hearsay. He was the office's main liaison with the Justice Department who helped determine whether to appeal decisions of local courts. He also mentored scores of new assistant U.S. attorneys, and his March retirement party drew hundreds of current and former prosecutors, as well as dozens of area judges and numerous defense lawyers.

While fighting cancer for the past 22 years, Mr. Tourish continued to work full time, coach his son's Little League team and announce swim meets for the Rock Creek Swim Team, where he was known as the man in the straw hat.

Colleagues described him as dignified and deeply engaged with the law. While in the hospital for the last time, he asked for copies of the two latest Supreme Court decisions and also worried about his unpaid dues to the local bar association, in case he recovered enough to return to practice.

His ongoing training memo for new lawyers at the U.S. attorney's office has exceeded 300 pages, and about 400 published decisions in the D.C. Court of Appeals and 200 published decisions in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District Circuit bore his name.

He made time to speak at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa., where his son goes to school, despite being in a difficult period in his illness. Mr. Tourish met a student there whom he mentored and who later became an intern at the U.S. attorney's office.

Mr. Tourish was born in Grand Rapids, Mich., and grew up in West Chester, Pa. He graduated from Villanova University in 1970 and from Georgetown University law school in 1974. While at Georgetown, he worked for the D.C. Bail Agency. After graduation, he clerked for U.S. District Court Judge Aubrey E. Robinson Jr., and worked briefly for the Arent Fox law firm.

He then joined the U.S. attorney's office but left in 1986 to go into private practice. When his cancer was diagnosed in 1987, he was told that he would probably live only two or three more years and would not be able to travel as his legal practice required, so he returned to work in the public sector.

Over the years, he underwent five major surgeries, several clinical trials, chemotherapy and countless other procedures. Nevertheless, he rarely spoke of his ordeals, colleagues said. He won the Attorney General's Meritorious Service Award in 2008 and in 2003 received the Harold J. Sullivan Award for career excellence, presented by the Assistant U.S. Attorneys Association for the District of Columbia.

Mr. Tourish, a Chevy Chase resident, and his wife served as "community members" on the institutional ethics committee at Children's National Medical Center for years, providing advice in difficult cases dealing with ethical decision-making.

Two of his children, Abigail and Jonathan Tourish, died in 1987 as premature babies.

Survivors include his wife of 24 years, Deborah L. Dokken of Chevy Chase, and a son, Jeremy A. Tourish of Lancaster.