DATE: Saturday, November 8, 1997            TAG: 9711080325

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY MIKE KNEPLER, STAFF WRITER

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:  108 lines

PHILIP TRAPANI, NORFOLK'S CITY ATTORNEY, DIES FROM LEUKEMIA

Philip R. Trapani, Norfolk's city attorney for 22 years and one of City Hall's most powerful leaders, died in a hospital Friday morning after a long battle with leukemia. He was 63.

Trapani's tenure as city attorney began in 1975 and extended over the terms of three city managers and six mayors. Before 1975, he served as an assistant city attorney for 10 years.

``His experience was so vital,'' said Mayor Paul D. Fraim, who described Trapani's value as going far beyond that of a legal adviser.

``Because of Phil's role and the confidence that the councils had in Phil over the years, he was given latitude to comment on a lot of issues, and the council trusted Phil's guidance and advice. He knew all the players on the scene - regionally and statewide. Phil was vigorous in his defense of the city and all its dealings.

``Phil was the institutional memory.''

Council members relied on Trapani to guide them through legal minefields, including water negotiations with other cities, major development projects, the end of cross-town busing to integrate elementary schools, employee relations, citizen challenges to tax-and-spend policies and changing the City Council elections to a ward system.

``He was almost an eighth member of the council,'' said Vice Mayor Herbert M. Collins Sr., one of Norfolk's seven council members. ``It's very important to point out how loyal he was to the city and to the council.''

Even when council members initially disagreed with Trapani's pronouncements, they came to respect his intellectual power, professional approach and political judgment.

He was witty and possessed the ability to charm council members, moving them from infighting to sticking to business.

``When the council would fracture,'' Fraim said, ``he still wanted us to put our best foot forward. When we were bickering, Phil always would work to calm that.''

Council members considered him a friend and confidant. They were impressed with his devotion to his family despite his busy schedule. All these were keys to his longevity in office.

Collins, who was elected in 1994, was the lead plaintiff in a seven-year legal challenge to Norfolk's old at-large system of electing the council members. He and six other African Americans and the local NAACP charged that black voters were being discriminated against.

Trapani coordinated the legal defense, which included bringing in expensive out-of-town consultants.

But the Norfolk government lost, and the city was divided into five wards and two superwards for council elections.

``When I was elected, I was very suspicious because I had been the city's adversary for so long,'' Collins said. ``But the first thing he did was call me and ask, `Do I need to come out to see you? Or do you want to come see me?'

``I went to see him. He closed the door and said, `Herbert, I want you to know that I work for you along with the other six council members. If you have any apprehensions, I want you to dismiss them.'

``And he proved that to me. And he made me feel very at ease. . . . I can see how and why he survived.''

Council member W. Randy Wright disliked Trapani for years before his election in 1990. Yet he came to consider Trapani ``a personal friend.''

In the late 1970s, Wright and his anti-tax Norfolk Tea Party sued the city to gain the right of referendum on tax increases. The challenge failed and City Hall countersued to recoup some of the legal expenses.

``I certainly thought he was a bad guy,'' Wright said of Trapani. ``He sat there and told the citizens he didn't work for them, that he worked for the council. He came across as very arrogant and very condescending.

``So, frankly, when I went on the City Council, I didn't have a very high opinion of him. But as time went on, I grew to be very fond of Phil professionally and personally.

``This is a very sad day for the city of Norfolk.''

The advent of the ward system made for a more politically diverse City Council with more public bickering than before. Yet Trapani adapted better ``than anybody else in the administration,'' Wright said. ``He understood it was a different political ballgame.''

Trapani had a constructive, problem-solving approach to legal concerns. ``He was not the kind of lawyer who would tell you that you can't do things,'' said City Manager James B. Oliver Jr. ``Phil's creativity was very uncommon for lawyers in his position. City attorneys generally are viewed as very traditional.''

Trapani also was a mentor to attorneys.

``He gave me a job and a wonderful opportunity,'' said Lydia Taylor, once an assistant city attorney for Norfolk and now a Circuit Court judge. ``He cared about my career.''

Taylor said Trapani knew how to stave off potentially devastating lawsuits by getting the most from his staff and persuading the City Council to agree on strategies.

``He had a genius for keeping the city out of trouble . . . and for knowing what was politically expedient,'' Taylor said. ``It wasn't the litigation skills but the people skills and knowing how to get the council to accept the advice.

``But, boy, he could be tough. He wasn't someone you wanted to cross.''

Although Trapani had been seriously ill since May, news of his passing hit hard in City Hall.

``We're in kind of a funk right now,'' said Deputy City Attorney Harold Juren. ``He was a very strong leader.''

He also is being mourned outside Norfolk. ``I've known him my whole career,'' said Chesapeake City Attorney Ronald S. Hallman, who noted that Trapani gave good advice to many city attorneys across Virginia. ``It was well known that any time you had a tricky question . . . you'd call Phil. I'm really just devastated.'' MEMO: A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 11 a.m. Monday in

Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Ghent. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]

Philip R. Trapani's ``experience was so vital,'' says Norfolk Mayor

Paul D. Fraim. KEYWORDS: DEATH OBITUARY

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