Bob Schwartz, cofounder and executive director emeritus of Juvenile Law Center, has died at 75

Bob Schwartz, 75, of Philadelphia, cofounder and executive director emeritus of Juvenile Law Center, longtime lawyer, visiting scholar at Temple University, author, lecturer, and pioneering advocate for juvenile justice, died Tuesday, Oct. 8, of cancer at his home in Center City.

A renowned legal expert on children’s rights and delinquency prevention, Mr. Schwartz joined with Marsha Levick and others to cofound Juvenile Law Center in 1975. It is regarded as the country’s oldest nonprofit public interest law firm for children, and, seeing a glaring need for child advocates, he served as its executive director from 1982 to 2015.

“We helped create a field,” Mr. Schwartz told The Inquirer in 2015.

For nearly 50 years, he wrestled with perplexing problems about juvenile incarceration, probation, foster care, and parental rights. He and JLC represented children and their welfare in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and the U.S. Supreme Court in cases that involved corrupt judges, contested adoptions, terrible institutional conditions, and other heart-wrenching issues.

He constantly wrangled for better services and more opportunities for children, and asked colleagues at the 1996 conference of the National Association of Counsel for Children: “What are we trying to achieve for children? What are we building?” His answer was: “Each child’s case offered an opportunity for reform.”

He served as the court-appointed child advocate in a 1979 case in which adopting parents and the birth mother argued over an infant girl, and he told The Inquirer: “I stay awake at nights thinking about this case.”

Mr. Schwartz, Levick, and other lawyers were instrumental in resolving the “kids for cash” judicial scandal in Luzerne County in 2009, and filmmaker Robert May chronicled Mr. Schwartz’s role in the case in the 2013 documentary Kids for Cash. In 2014, Daily News columnist Ronnie Polaneczky called Mr. Schwartz and Levick “dogged and brilliant child advocates who ought to wear red capes to work.”

He also testified about juvenile legal issues before Congress, and spoke to lawyers, judges, and government officials around the world about children and the law. He wrote opinion pieces for The Inquirer and other publications, and dozens of his scholarly papers and chapters were printed by the American Bar Association, Fordham Law Review, Family Court Review, Stoneleigh Foundation, and other groups.

“Bob was both a thought partner and a thought leader, who transformed the field of youth rights through innovative advocacy, strategic partnerships, scholarship, and public discourse,” Levick said in an online tribute. “He touched the hearts of so many here and around the world.”

Mr. Schwartz worked on the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency from 1996 to 1999. He chaired the American Bar Association’s Commission on Youth at Risk and served on boards and committees for the Philadelphia Youth Network, Human Rights Watch, and other child advocacy groups.

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He was a member of the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Adolescent Development and Juvenile Justice, and active at the National Association of Counsel for Children. He held the Phyllis W. Beck Chair in Law at Temple’s Beasley School of Law in 2018 and ‘19 and became a visiting scholar in 2019.

He won awards for his work from the Philadelphia Bar Association, National Legal Aid and Defender Association, Haverford College, and other organizations. Jen Coatsworth, chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar Association, said in a tribute: “Bob’s legacy will be the untold number of lives that were improved due to his advocacy.”

Robert Gene Schwartz was born Sept. 1, 1949, in the Bronx. His family moved to Queens and Long Island, and he graduated from high school in 1967.

He was curious and intelligent as a boy, said his sister, Lari, and he played trombone and read all kinds of books. He watched actor Raymond Burr play lawyer Perry Mason on TV and said he wanted to be a lawyer, too.

He earned a bachelor’s degree at Haverford in 1971 and law degree at Temple in 1975. Colleagues at Temple noted his “sense of humor, his warmth, his kindness, and generosity.” He lived in Mount Airy before moving to Center City in 2016.

Mr. Schwartz enjoyed opera and the orchestra, went to Broadway shows often, and traveled to London for its theaters and culture many times. His personal collection of signed books and first editions is immense.

He played the piano and had a remarkable memory for details. He liked Diet Coke and was, Levick said, “an unparalleled punster.”

He followed the Dodgers, Mets, and finally the Phillies closely. He worked part-time as a baseball umpire and basketball referee. He quoted poets and actors to family and friends.

Juan Williams, Michael Nutter, Gloria Rueben, and Jeffrey Toobin were among the guests at his retirement gala in 2015. “He was the height of ethics and morality,” his sister said. “He was humble, kind, and could relate to everybody. He was a beautiful person.”

Levick said: “Our loss is immeasurable. Our world is diminished.”

In addition to his sister, Mr. Schwartz is survived by other relatives.

A celebration of his life is to be held at 11 a.m., Saturday, Nov. 23, at Haverford College, 370 Lancaster Ave, Haverford, Pa. 19041.

Donations in his name may be made to Juvenile Law Center, 1800 JFK Blvd., Suite 1900B, Philadelphia, Pa. 19103.