Arthur Leland Content, 88, a prominent Washington lawyer and former longtime resident of Bethesda, died July 9 in Annapolis. He had prostate cancer.

The son of radio and acoustics engineer Edward Content and Addie Alexander Content, Arthur was born July 30, 1930 in Brooklyn, NY, and grew up in Queens and Stamford CT. He graduated from Hamilton College in 1951 and from the University of Chicago Law School in 1954. He received a full scholarship to law school from Hamilton, and to pay his other expenses he bussed tables, shoveled coal in a steel mill, and drove a taxi in Chicago. He was then drafted into the U.S. Army, serving in White Sands, NM. Legal work in San Francisco was followed by a long stint at Arent, Fox, Kintner, Plotkin and Kahn in Washington, DC, where he became a senior partner. He formed his own firm in 1978, specializing in real estate and tax law, known as Content, Tatusko, and Patterson. Arthur had a guiding hand in many real estate developments in the Washington, DC area during his time as one of the leading real estate development lawyers in the area, including the Bethesda Air Rights buildings, The Chateau at New Hampshire Ave, Foxhall Crescents in Georgetown, and a number of the first high rise projects in Rosslyn.  He represented many of the major real estate developers of that period, such as Eisinger and Kilbane, Federal Realty Investment Trust, Rozansky and Kay, Weissberg Development, Herbert Haft and Stanley Martin Companies.

He retired in the mid-1990s, living in Arlington and Bethesda before moving to Riderwood in Calverton, and then to Baywoods of Annapolis.  

He married Mary McEwen in 1960, and adopted her two sons from her first marriage, Robert and Reed Content. He and Mary had two sons, David and Thomas, before their divorce in 1972. He married Adrienne Dominguez in 1982. They had a son, Alexander Content, before their divorce in 1991.

He is survived by five sons, Robert (Diane), Reed (Judith), David (Tracy), Thomas (Susan) and Alexander (Xiaofang), as well as a brother, Robert “Bob” (Robin) Content, of Tallahassee, FL, five granddaughters Laura (Craig) Beebe and Emma, Sophie, Adelie and Vivienne Content, and two great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by a brother, Edward, and two sisters, Camille and Fae.

Arthur was an avid sailor, tennis player, and devotee of the Kennedy Center ballet series. He trained and mentored young lawyers in tax and real estate law, and provided pro bono legal services to demonstrators arrested in the 1968 riots. After his retirement, he acted as a pro bono financial advisor for disabled clients in Montgomery County. He was a generous philanthropist. He was a member of the longtime Bethesda Democratic lunch club and organized the first integrated day care services in the 1960s at Westmoreland Congregational Church.

A memorial service is being organized for Sunday August 4, at 4:30 p.m. Please RSVP to davidcontent@verizon.net, or to 301/464-1430. An online forum for remembrances is being set up at: https://www.gatheringus.com.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests contributions to Cure Alzheimer’s Fund.