Albert K. Butzel, lawyer and protector of the Hudson, dies at age 85

“There seemed to be no argument he couldn't win, no trap he couldn't escape, no opponent he couldn't outsmart,” Charles Komanoff, a former urban environmental analyst, wrote last year in the online magazine Citizens Union . , Gotham Gazette. “Not only was he the smartest man in the room, he was also the most effective.”

Albert Kahn Butzel was born on October 1, 1938 in Birmingham, Michigan, north of Detroit. His father, Martin Butzel, was a lawyer. His mother, Rosalie (Kahn) Butzel, was the daughter of the Detroit architect Albert Kahn and was active in civic and philanthropic groups.

After attending Cranbrook Schools in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, Mr. Butzel graduated from Harvard with a bachelor's degree in English in 1960 and from Harvard Law School in 1961.

That same year he married Brenda Fay Sosland, a clinical social worker, who survives him along with their daughters, Laura and Kyra Butzel; four grandchildren; and his brother Leo. Another brother, John, died earlier. Mr. Butzel and his wife had moved to Seattle for long-term care, where their daughter Kyra lives.

After law school, Mr. Butzel joined Paul, Weiss, Rifkind & Garrison, where Lloyd Garrison recruited him to the law firm's pro bono representation of Scenic Hudson. In 1971, he formed a legal partnership with Peter AA Berle, who would later become the state environmental commissioner.