Robert Gilhuly, 83; Attorney, Former BET Member

Robert “Bob” Thomas Gilhuly, a top-rated attorney and longtime partner at the Greenwich law firm of Cummings & Lockwood, who also was president and legal counsel of the Stanwich Club, died of prostate cancer at his home in Cos Cob on Aug. 26, 2013. He was 83.

Mr. Gilhuly was born May 7, 1930, in Belmont, MA, a son of Bernard and Helen Keane Gilhuly, the second of their four children.

He attended Fairfield Preparatory School, which his mother had been instrumental in founding, graduating in 1947. He received his bachelor's degree from Holy Cross College in 1951 and continued his studies at Yale Law School where he was honored with admission to the Order of the Coif. Mr. Gilhuly considered his experience at Yale life-changing and remained a generous, loyal alumnus all his life. 

In 1954 he joined the Army and served as a first lieutenant in the Judge Advocate General’s Corp, working at the Pentagon as part of the Legislative Drafting Group for the Cordiner Committee, which restructured the Army’s pay program. 

In 1957 he married Anne Kilby at St. Matthew’s Cathedral in Washington and began a new chapter of his life, moving to Stamford and then three years later to Greenwich, to practice estates and trusts law with Cummings & Lockwood.   

In November 2010, Greenwich Magazine named him one of the “Top Lawyers” locally for achieving the highest peer review rating for ethical standards and professional excellence, “AV Preeminent,” by LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell, the legal network with a database of more than one million lawyers from 160 countries. He spent more than 55 years as an attorney at Cummings & Lockwood, most of them practicing law in the firm’s estates and trusts tax division, which is consistently ranked among the top in the nation. He was a firm partner until this year. 

Mr. Gulhily was involved in Greenwich town affairs. He served as president of the Old Greenwich-Riverside Community Center; a member of the Representative Town Meeting and the Board of Health, and head of the Old Greenwich School Building Committee. His volunteer work for the town centered on the Board of Estimate and Taxation on which he served from 1982 until 1999, including Chairman of the BET Finance Committee. 

The Stanwich Club was another of his favorite institutions. Golf—along with gardening—was his great passion. He and Anne joined the Stanwich Club in 1962 just before the golf course opened. Mr. Gulhily served the Board in several capacities and as President in 1981-82, then legal counsel in the years that followed.  In 2008 he was named Honorary Member for his long and distinguished service to the Club. 

Not only was he a source of wise counsel to his clients and a leader in the community, Bob was a much loved father and grandfather.

He is survived by his wife Anne; their five children, Morgan, managing partner of his law firm, Barg Coffin Lewis & Trapp, in San Francisco, married to Monique Parrish; Ned, founder and principal of Sageview Capital in Palo Alto, married to Karen Hoffman; Peter, a partner in Latham & Watkins in Los Angeles and manager of its West Coast bankruptcy practice, married to Namhee Han; Daniel, a building contractor, fine carpenter and poet, in Saugerties, NY, married to Deena Rae Turner; and Kate, associate professor in the Department of Classical Studies at Wellesley College, married to Mark Bush. He also is survived by his brother William Gilhuly of Fairfield and his sister Ann Littlejohn of New York, and 13 grandchildren.

A mass will be celebrated at 11 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 31, at St. Catherine of Siena Church, 4 Riverside Ave., Riverside. Burial will follow at Putnam Cemetery on North Street in Greenwich. 

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Greenwich Hospital Home Hospice, 5 Perryridge Rd., Greenwich, CT 06830, or St. Joseph’s Church, Attn: Fr. Gilbert D’Souza, 85 S. Main St., Norwalk, CT 06854.