Chester Barry Buckley

C. Barry Buckley, founding partner in what was to become one of the largest and most prestigious law firms in Chester County, PA, died Sunday, April 16, at his home near Chestertown, MD. He had Alzheimer’s disease; he was 86. Buckley founded West Chester-based Buckley, Brion, McGuire & Morris LLP, with partner Ronald C. Nagle in October of 1969. He was as passionate about the practice of law as he was mentoring the firm’s younger associates. He served as the Chester County Bar Association Treasurer for more than 10 years and was its president in 1981. As youths, Buckley and his younger brother were frequent recipients of their mother’s expostulations about their duty to be tolerant and understanding of others, no matter one’s appearance or circumstance. That advice and oversized helpings of patience and brains morphed into a kind of finesse that gave him a one-up with the girls and charmed teachers and family friends as well. Later in life, still an immensely likable guy, he grew into the person who could be counted on for help to navigate the toughest challenges, legal or otherwise. Beyond a scrupulous attention to detail, an unwavering respect for the law and the ethical practice thereof, his demeanor and skill made him the go-to counsellor when a pro was needed to ameliorate the most tangled and contested of situations. He had a gift for defusing hostilities and finding a path to resolution. He could wait you out. These abundant “people skills” led to a ’70’s fling in Chester County Republican politics. To oust an incumbent state legislator who had lost favor with the machine, the party turned to this handsome young lawyer in his Jacob Reed’s suits (by then married, two kids, Presbyterian Sunday School, all boxes checked) to run in the primary election. The only problem was that the incumbent held the City of Coatesville while the rest of the district, which spread to the north and east, contained mostly empty farm land and a few brown cows. He was GOP cannon fodder; the district eventually went Democrat. Throughout adulthood and almost until his death, he was a yellow-pad-and-number-two-pencil kind of lawyer and businessman, creating penmanship that on the one hand appeared to be the artistry of a skilled calligrapher but on the other was astonishingly undecipherable. Buckley was a decent athlete, played second base, captained the college swimming team, played tennis, carried an 8 handicap in golf, hurt himself many a Sunday playing flag football at the family compound in Charlestown Township. He occasioned the Buckley duck blind on Lovely Cove outside Chestertown, but was never really sure if the brass end of a 12-gage cartridge pointed forward or backward when pressed into the magazine of a Browning humpback autoloader. Everyone wanted to gun with him anyway, and after many a shoot, he happily led the gang to an evening’s entertainment at Chestertown’s storied Village Tavern. He enjoyed travel, the more rough-edged of the Caribbean islands and leisurely bike rides through Kent County. He remained active in his West Chester law practice until 2013 and spent his final years at Lovely Cove Farm where his parents settled in 1959. Buckley was born in Philadelphia, the first son of J. Taylor and Kathryn B. Buckley. He was named for his maternal grandfather, Chester Barry, a Chester County country doctor and World War I hero. He grew up in Landsdowne, PA. He was a graduate of Williams College, The University of Virginia Law School and the London School of Economics. He is survived by two sons, Barry K. (Jennifer) of St. Paul, MN, and Dekker M. (Maricarmen) of Rumson, NJ; a brother, J. Taylor Jr., of Sanibel, FL; four grandchildren, Lily, Jamie, Sebastian, and Nicole; and his longtime companion, Christine Petragnani. Services will be held on Saturday, April 29 at 11 a.m. at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Chestertown. Interment will be held in St. Paul's Cemetery.

Chester Barry Buckley

June 22, 1936 - April 16, 2023