PHILIP J. BYERS

BYERS, Philip J. Age 75, of North Andover, died May 30, 2024. He was born on May 28, 1949 to William and Pauline Byers of Lawrence. Philip attended the Lawrence Public Schools and then, Colby College in Waterville, Maine, where he majored in Government and contributed poetry to the college literary journal. He later earned his J.D. at Suffolk Law School in Boston. At Colby, he met Karen Byers (then Brandt) and they married in 1971, spending 35 years together and raising three children, Weslie, David, and Jennifer, each five years apart. Philip later remarried to Linda Byers. Philip practiced law, especially family law, for 48 years, with offices in Lawrence, Andover, and North Andover. He was well-known and deeply respected throughout the state for his talent as a litigator. In 1990, he was named a Fellow in the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers and made particular contributions to the Amicus Curiae Committee. He co-authored several briefs for cases before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and the United States Supreme Court on behalf of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, notably arguing in support of grandparent visitation and same-sex marriage. He was commonly sought out for guidance regarding complex legal questions, and successfully argued several precedent-setting cases before the Massachusetts Appellate Court. Philip's family and friends will remember him very fondly for his deep, boisterous laughter, brilliant intellect, kindness, and voracious reading-always halfway into a novel or biography and eager to talk about it. When his office was in Andover, he knew the names of everyone who worked in the stores downtown, and when not in the office or courthouse could always be found talking exuberantly in Ford's Coffeeshop or the Andover Bookstore or at his children's events in the Andover Public Schools. Philip belonged to Temple Emanuel in Andover throughout his life, and taught Hebrew School there for many years, including a course on Holocaust remembrance. He loved the ocean and traveled to Sandbridge Beach in Virginia every summer, teaching his children to dive through or over the waves. Philip is survived by his wife, Linda Byers; his children and their spouses, Weslie and Craig Surman, David S. Byers and Stephen Vider, Jennifer and Kevin Hayden, step-children, Crystal Murphy and Kaileigh West; his five grandchildren, Lilah, Evie, Thomas, Lydia, and Amberly; and his brother and sister-in-law, Harry and Karen Byers. Memorial Service to be held at Temple Emanuel in Andover on Monday, June 3, at noon, followed by the Shiva in Sherborn at the home of Weslie and Craig Surman.

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