Terence Lytle, 53, a public defender in Camden County

They met at Dirty Frank's, the storied taproom at 13th and Pine Streets in Center City, on June 7, 1997.

Terry Lytle was a lawyer in the Office of the Public Defender in Camden. Teresa Gimenez was an accounts coordinator for an advertising agency in Narberth.

"His father had passed away a week before, and his colleagues had taken him out for drinks," Gimenez said.

"I was with a girlfriend, and we made a point of not talking to any guys," she said.

"At the end of the night, there was a Guinness promotion, and they gave out shirts and I put one on.

"And he patted me on the back and said, 'That's a nice shirt.' "

They were married on Jan. 5, 2001, at a Cistercian monastery in her hometown of Barcelona, Spain.

On Sunday, Aug. 16, Terence A. Lytle, 53, of Haddonfield, a public defender in Camden since shortly after he passed the bar exam, died of multiple myeloma at home.

At Dirty Frank's that June evening, Gimenez said, she found that he was "very well-traveled."

"We immediately engaged in conversation. He had been all over Europe and knew so much."

He phoned two days later, she said, and "a week later we went out to dinner" at a Center City restaurant.

Gimenez said that Mr. Lytle had chosen to become a public defender "because it was meaningful. He wasn't the kind of guy who was going to be a lawyer and work in a firm."

Harold Katz, deputy public defender in charge of the Camden office, said Mr. Lytle "was a highly valued member of the public defender family since 1988."

"Terry was universally liked and respected by his colleagues, his clients, and prosecutors," he said. "He will be sadly missed by all of us. Just a very nice person."

Born in Glen Ridge, N.J., Mr. Lytle graduated from St. Joseph's Preparatory School, earned a bachelor's degree at the University of Pennsylvania on May 21, 1984, and graduated from Temple University Law School on May 21, 1987.

He was admitted to the bar in both New Jersey and Pennsylvania in December 1987 and hired to be a public defender in early 1988.

Timothy Wright, whose office was near Mr. Lytle's, said that "he was no-nonsense in court." Public defenders "have a lot of clients and he was always able to take care of everyone," he said.

Standing in Mr. Lytle's office as he spoke, Wright noted "pictures of him fishing, all over his wall, pictures of him and his children holding giant fish."

His wife said Mr. Lytle "liked the little things," such as being with "his kids, dropping them off at school, making them breakfast."

A gardener, "he was very proud of his fig trees."

"Every time he knew of somebody who had an interest in gardening," she said, "he would always buy them a fig tree. He loved the figs."

Besides his wife, Mr. Lytle is survived by sons Terry and Rafael, three brothers, and a sister.

A viewing was set from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Friday, Aug. 21, at the Schetter Funeral Home, 302 W. Marlton Pike, Cherry Hill, with a Funeral Mass set for 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 22, at Christ the King Church, 200 Windsor Ave., Haddonfield. Interment is to be private.

Donations may be sent to the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation at www.themmrf.org.

Condolences may be offered to the family at www.schetterfh.com.