Jay D. Fischer

Jay D. Fischer, a North Jersey lawyer who negotiated a monetary settlement for the family of a victim of high-seas terror, died Thursday. He was 79.

The cause was complications of respiratory failure, said the Englewood Cliffs law firm Fischer, Porter, Thomas & Reinfeld, where Mr. Fischer, of Clifton, was senior partner.

On Oct. 7, 1985, Palestinian terrorists hijacked the Italian cruise liner Achille Lauro in the Mediterranean Sea. The following day, they killed a Jewish passenger, 69-year-old Leon Klinghoffer of New York City, and tossed his body and wheelchair overboard. The act became a shocking symbol of Middle East terrorism.

Mr. Fischer represented the Klinghoffer family in their suit against the Palestine Liberation Organization. Mr. Fischer's daughter, Tamar Stern, said her father became involved because one of his clients was a friend of Leon Klinghoffer's wife, Marilyn. Marilyn Klinghoffer, who was on the anniversary cruise with her husband, died of cancer four months after the incident.

Mr. Fischer structured his case by asserting that the PLO was not a sovereign power entitled to diplomatic immunity but an unincorporated association doing business in New York by virtue of its real estate holdings. The PLO was represented by Ramsey Clark, a former U.S. attorney general. After 12 years, the PLO agreed to settle the lawsuit for an undisclosed sum.

Alan Thomas, a partner in Fischer, Porter, Thomas & Reinfeld, said Mr. Fischer was "steadfast" during the unusual legal odyssey. "He believed in the case from the beginning and believed in it at the end," Thomas said. "He never doubted that the estate would prevail in the litigation."

"This was prior to 9/11 and my father believed terrorists should be held accountable," Stern said. "He was liberal and progressive on most political and domestic issues, but on terrorism he was hard-line, and believed we needed to marshal everyone in the civilized world to fight terrorism. That helped him stay on the case for 12 years."

Stern said her ailing father was unaware that U.S. Navy SEALS killed 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden two weeks ago, "but he would have been thrilled."

Mr. Fischer, a Bronx native, was active in the 1960s Democratic reform movement in New York City. He moved to Clifton in 1969 and practiced there before helping found the Englewood Cliffs firm in 1993.

Thomas called Mr. Fischer "the greatest lawyer I have ever seen in action" and said his voice was a large part of that. "His voice gave him the ability to sound very persuasive and authoritative," Thomas said. "Whether it was the cadence or something else, it just seemed that if Jay said something, it must be right."

Mr. Fischer is survived by his wife of 54 years, Laurel; his daughters, Tamar Stern, Toby Morse and Judith Falk, and eight grandchildren. Services were held Friday at the Jewish Memorial Chapel, Clifton.

E-mail: levin@northjersey.com