Arthur Shuman

Arthur ("Buzz") Robert Shuman, Jr. passed away on October 24th, 2010. Buzz was born on September 11, 1940, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to the late Arthur R. Shuman and Marjory Keith Jenkins.

Mr. Shuman practiced primarily in the fields of criminal defense, civil litigation, corporate law, real estate, and elder law. Over the course of his career, he tried hundreds of criminal and civil cases, with the majority involving homicide and complicated fraud cases. Mr. Shuman served as a prosecutor for the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office, eventually rising to the second highest position, Chief Deputy District Attorney. Mr. Shuman specialized in litigation in the Federal Courts, and in the representation of small corporate clients and professionals. Throughout his career, he argued many cases before State and Federal Appellate Courts, and was involved in matters before the Pennsylvania and New Jersey Supreme Courts, and the Circuit Courts and the Supreme Court of the United States. He was featured in a nationally-televised debate regarding Capital Punishment with Harvard Law School Professor Alan Dershowitz, and in a segment of the CBS News program 60 Minutes where he was interviewed by Mike Wallace about his role in the exoneration of a wrongfully convicted death-row defendant.

Mr. Shuman also focused on the investigation and prosecution of Organized Crime and the training and education of prosecutors. Mr. Shuman possessed extensive experience in the legislative and political processes, authored or assisted in authoring laws regarding Driving Under The Influence and Underage Drinking in four states, and wrote and lectured about Liquor Liability Litigation. Mr. Shuman graduated from the Waldron Academy in Merion in 1954, St. Joseph's Preparatory School in Philadelphia in 1958, received a Bachelor of Science degree from Villanova University, a Bachelor of Arts degree from Villanova University in 1962, and a Juris Doctor degree from Villanova School of Law in 1972. He was one of the original founding members of the VU lacrosse team in 1961, played semi-professional football for several teams in the Philadelphia area and served as the President of the VU Law Alumni Association from 1986-1987.

After his retirement from the District Attorney's Office, Mr. Shuman was in private practice, handling civil and criminal litigation, and taught courses in contract law, real estate law, and other law courses as well as philosophy and ethics courses at Villanova University and LaSalle University.

Mr. Shuman was happiest spending time with his family. He is survived by his wife, a son and two daughters, two stepsons; four grandchildren, two brothers and a sister. He is also survived by numerous nieces, nephews, other relatives, many friends and colleagues and by his beloved Golden Retriever.