Past President of Legal Aid of Southeastern Pennsylvania, Elizabeth Price Passes Away
Delaware County Bar Association Official of 36 Years Dies Price Redefined the Role of Executive Director Zack Needles The Legal Intelligencer June 28, 2010
When Elizabeth C. Price was hired by the Delaware County Bar Association in 1974, the role of a bar executive in the modern sense didn't really exist in Pennsylvania.
At the time, those types of positions were barely recognized, let alone respected, as real professions by most of the bar associations across the state.
But 36 years later, job titles like "executive director" and "executive secretary" have expanded to become crucial parts of bar association operations and many credit Betty Price with bringing those positions to prominence in the Pennsylvania legal community.
Price passed away Wednesday after a long illness, but those who knew her remember a fascinating figure and a tireless worker who battled to gain respect and equality for a profession she poured her heart and soul into for nearly four decades.
Bruce E. Rodger, the Delaware County Bar Association's current president and a close friend of Price's, said she "transformed the position from more than just sort of a coffee-getter role."
Delaware County President Judge Joseph P. Cronin Jr. called Price "a pioneer" who turned what was essentially intended as an executive assistant role into an executive position.
"She really gave birth to that position statewide and nationally," Cronin said.
By all accounts, Price was a natural leader and, according to Rodger, "someone upon whom all bar presidents have relied implicitly."
Rodger added that the "greatest fear" of Delaware County Bar Association presidents who worked with Price was that she would decide to retire during their term.
Donald Lehrkinder, a former president of the Delaware County Bar Association who had a hand in hiring Price in 1974, said she quickly gained respect for being an expert problem-solver with a knack for sidestepping bureaucracy.
"Let's say there was an unusual problem that needed to be handled by the board of directors," said Lehrkinder. "When she went before them to present the issue she would say something like, 'In anticipation of the meeting, I've given this some thought and to help in cutting down the time necessary to reach a solution, I think A, B, C, D and E are the real keys to the problem.' She would be able to cut all of that dead wood out."
But for as influential as she was, friends said Price never had to resort to strong-arm tactics in order to be an effective leader.
"She would never do it in a fashion that would demean anybody's judgment or authority," said Lehrkinder. "We've had a lot of pesky presidents of our bar association — people who were pains — and she never alienated any of them."
Rodger said Price, who had no legal background, "had remarkably good insights into lawyers and judges."
Cronin credited Price with "enabling a good, professional, ethical relationship between the bench and the bar" in Delaware County.
State Superior Court President Judge Emeritus Stephen J. McEwen Jr., who knew Price for more than 40 years, said it was a testimony to her personality and intelligence that she was able to win over even the biggest skeptics.
In the 1970s, McEwen said, bar association members "weren't used to having anybody pointing them in the right path and it wasn't quite the era of women yet."
"She surmounted every bump in the road by reason of her manner, her style and her grace," he said. "The lawyers came first to like her, then to trust her, then to agree with her."
In 1979, Price became one of the founding members and the first president of the Pennsylvania Association of Bar Executives and, through the organization, made great strides to earn appreciation for the important work bar executives do.
In the early days of the organization, according to "The History of the Association of Bar Executives," which Price researched and authored in 2007, local bar associations did not encourage involvement with the PABE and bar executives were still largely kept out of the loop of bar association matters.
But by the mid-1980s, the PABE's membership had grown and a letter Price wrote in 1986 to Ira B. Coldren, at that time the president of the Pennsylvania Bar Association, became an important milestone in the effort to open the lines of communication between bar executives and bar members.
In the letter, Price made several requests, including "that all executive directors or executive secretaries of local bar associations be included on all state bar mailing lists; be included as courtesy members of state bar committees; be on the mailing list for the VIP publication; have a designated section for seating at the PBA House of Delegates Meeting as well as being provided the necessary and informational materials of the meeting" and "be recognized by the volunteer members of the Pennsylvania Bar Association as a professional organization of the State of Pennsylvania."
Coldren responded positively to the requests and invited Price to a meeting of the PBA's Board of Governors.
At the meeting, one of the governors suggested to Coldren and PBA Vice President Joseph H. Jones that Price be asked to leave.
But Coldren and Jones allowed her to stay in what was one of the first displays of solidarity between lawyers and bar executives.
"Without leaders such as those gentlemen, we may still be striving for the recognition that we deserve," Price wrote.
Price, who was also very active in Legal Aid of Southeast Pennsylvania, was certainly a force in the legal world, but her unflappable character carried over to all aspects of her life.
And while her job as executive director was certainly a huge part of Price's being, it by no means defined her.
An accomplished painter who had her art displayed in galleries in the United States and Europe, Price's resume includes stints as an interior designer, a radio commentator and a newspaper editor.
According to her daughter, Tracy Lochetto, Price had a deep affection for Paris and had an extensive rock collection that included stones collected from Princess Diana's garden and pieces of the Berlin Wall.
Often, Lochetto said, bar members would bring her rocks from all around the world.
But her greatest love was by far her family.
In addition to Lochetto, Price left behind a husband, William Price III; a son, Mark William Price; and four grandchildren, Samantha Christine Price, Meghan Cassidy Price, Angelo Adrian Lochetto Jr. and William Price Lochetto. Tracy Lochetto described Price as the "hub" of their family.
It's clear that both personally and professionally, Price made an indelible impression on everyone she met and will be greatly missed.
"I would suggest to you that losing Betty Price will probably be the sternest challenge the bar association has ever and may ever face," Cronin said.
Lochetto, finding it difficult to put into words how special her mother truly was, repeated a phrase she said she finds moving in the wake of such a great loss.
"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away," she said. "My mother actually did take my breath away."
Services had not been scheduled as of press time.