Attorney Harry W. Fenton, who practiced law in Lebanon for several decades before retiring in 2020 and moving to Philadelphia, was killed by a hit & run driver on Tuesday, Sept. 2, while riding his bicycle in Philadelphia.
According to the Philadelphia Inquirer and NBC10 Philadelphia, the incident occurred around 10 a.m. at an intersection along Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park.
The hit-and-run crash that killed former Lebanon attorney Harry Fenton took place in Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park at the intersection of Belmont Avenue and Avenue of the Republic just after 9:50 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 2. (Google Maps)
A preliminary investigation revealed that Fenton, age 67, was traveling east on his bike at an intersection in the park when he was struck by one of two speeding northbound vehicles. He died later Tuesday morning at a Philadelphia hospital.
Police on the way to the scene “spotted a black Dodge Charger parked at a different location with several individuals appearing to inspect the front of the vehicle,” and “seized the vehicle for further investigation,” the Inquirer reported. No arrest had been reported as of publication time.
Fenton was admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar in 1989. He practiced law in Lebanon with the Reilly, Wolfson, Sheffey, Schrum & Lundberg firm from the early 1990s until 2011, then as solo practitioner in Lebanon until his retirement in 2020.
He was respected among Lebanon County attorneys as a skilled and assertive criminal defense lawyer who represented all of his clients vigorously, even in low-paying cases where he was court-appointed to represent indigent defendants.
“He did a good job and was a zealous advocate for his clients,” former Lebanon County assistant district attorney Robert McAteer told LebTown. “Always made me be on top of my game.”
Fenton’s biography in national legal directory Martindale says that he was a 1981 graduate of Davis & Elkins College in West Virginia and a 1989 graduate of Duquesne University Law School in Pittsburgh.
Fenton is survived by his wife, Ruth Ann, a retired Lebanon School District teacher; a son, Dylan; a daughter, Hallie; and five grandchildren. All reside in the Philadelphia area.
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