Lombard moved to Dayton with his family in 1962 to begin his law career. Over the years, he served on the boards of Wright Memorial Library, Planned Parenthood of the Miami Valley, Dayton Visual Arts Center and The Dayton Art Institute, where he was chairman during the institute’s mid-1990s renovation, according to his obituary.
He also volunteered as a lawyer for the Artemis Center, a Dayton domestic violence advocacy center, and represented abused and abandoned children through the Court Appointed Special Advocate program.
“You don’t have to be an attorney (to be an advocate), but it was an advantage that he was an attorney because he knew the law,” his wife Linda said . “He was six-six and had a deep voice, and when he went into a court of law as an advocate for those children, they had a strong advocate.”
The pair met at the art institute, where she currently serves as chair of the board of trustees.
“I worked at the art institute in the late 70s- early-80s, as their director of development and he came over one day for a membership lunch,” Linda said. “He said it was a good break from the confrontational nature of his law practice.”
Lombard practiced law until age 80, when he gave up his license. “He gave up his ticket because he didn’t want to sit through any more CLEs (Continuing Legal Education) (courses),” she said.
Over the past several years, Lombard tutored fifth-graders at Ruskin PreK-8 School in Dayton in reading. In January, he received an Outstanding Mentor Award from the Montgomery County Mentoring Collaborative.
He was a member of the Dayton Bar Association and was honored for 50 years of service in 2009. He also served as assistant editor of The Developing Labor Law published by the Bureau of National Affairs and the American Bar Association’s Section of Labor and Employment Law.
Lombard began his law career at Coolidge Wall & Wood in Dayton, which later became Coolidge, Wall, Womsley and Lombard.
During his time at the firm - nine years of which were spent as managing partner - Lombard did management labor work for clients such as Reynolds & Reynolds, The Berry Company, the city of Oakwood and what’s now the Greater Dayton Regional Transit Authority and served as legal counsel to Kettering Memorial Hospital and later Kettering Health Network for 40 years.
Before retirement he joined Taft Stettinius & Hollister’s Dayton law office. He also served as a cryptographer in the U.S. Army Air Forces.
Lombard was born Aug. 19, 1927, in Worcester, Mass., to Ella Patton and Carleton Joshua Lombard, and grew up in Chelmsford, Mass.
A memorial service to celebrate his life is planned in the near future at the art institute but a date and time has not yet been announced. The family requested that donations be sent to The Dayton Art Institute, 456 Belmonte Park North, Dayton, OH 45405.
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