Retired lawyer, 92, still enjoys trials

WHO: Robert M. Jupiter, 92, of 1200 Jewell Drive, is a retiree who lives in Watertown after spending most of his life in New York City. "I have had two great careers," he said.

WHAT DID YOU DO? "I had 25 years in with the New York City Police Department, and then I was an assistant U.S. attorney for 14 years."

SO YOU ARE A NEW YORK CITY NATIVE? "I was born and brought up in New York City, and, of course, we were in the Depression era when I graduated from high school. You would take whatever menial jobs you could get. I went to work for 35 cents an hour in a machine shop, replacing a man who had lost three fingers working on a machine. Then I went to Lake George to work as a bellhop, and tips were my sole source of income."

HOW DID YOU BECOME A COP? "I started taking civil service tests. While I was in Lake George, I got a ride on a laundry delivery truck to Glens Falls to take a civil service test for a government printer job.

"Out of 12,000 who took the test nationally, I was the only one to score 100 percent. I was 18 at the time. So I went to Washington in October 1935 to begin an apprenticeship, and I advanced to journeyman.

"In the meantime, a friend told me about a test being given for the police department, and I took it. I came in number seven out of 33,000 who took it. In 1941, I was appointed to the police department.

"The training was awful, and I started at an annual salary of $1,200.

"I was eventually appointed a detective in Harlem, and I was the only white guy there. And I'll tell you, they were good cops. They knew how to use humor, and we prevailed in our jobs. I was there three years, and then I rose in ranks to sergeant, lieutenant and captain."

AND THEN YOU MADE A CAREER CHANGE? "I worked a lot in the vicinity of Mount Sinai Hospital, and I got to know the people there. They asked me if I'd like to go to work there. I had been with the police department for 25 years, and it seemed like a good move.

"When they hired me, they said it would be for assistant director of personnel, but they kept me in security, as chairman of the safety committee.

"While I was there, I wrote a story about a patient transport service, and it ran as the lead story in an issue of The Journal of the American Hospital Association.

"I applied for law school and went to St. John's while I was working at the hospital. I graduated, took another civil service test and joined the office of the chief clerk of the Criminal Division, U.S. attorney's office in New York City.

"They told me I couldn't become an assistant U.S. attorney, but I learned the ropes and became very proficient at what I was doing. When there was an opening in the civil division, I became the chief of the claims unit and an assistant U.S. attorney.

"I had staggering caseloads."

IS THERE ANY CASE THAT YOU RECALL AS A HIGHLIGHT OF YOUR CAREER IN THE U.S. ATTORNEY'S OFFICE? "I pursued a doctor into the Cayman Islands after he defrauded Medicare out of a quarter of a million dollars. I stayed there a week, did all the work and after I came back to New York. I filed a motion to double penalties against him. In doing that, I worked out a settlement in which we got back $50,000 up front, with $50,000 in annual payments to follow."

YOU SAID YOU STAYED THERE 14 YEARS? "Yes. I resigned in 1984. It was a fabulous job, but it was a long commute from Queens into Manhattan every day, and a lot of time away from the family. I wanted to try private practice, but I didn't care for that too much, so I served 'of counsel' to law firms, mostly doing civil work. That way, I didn't have to maintain an office."

WHICH OF YOUR TWO CAREERS DID YOU ENJOY MOST? "Working with the police department was very onerous, being subject to discipline and to all kinds of weather. A lot of it was boring, dealing with events, death and life. The law career, on the other hand, was fascinating. I had some very interesting trials."

WHAT BROUGHT YOU TO WATERTOWN? "We came here in 2005. My wife, Ray, was getting along in years, and our daughter, Rowena Miller, lives here, on Pillar Point. Her husband, David Ciechanowski, was a civilian employee at Fort Drum. He's retired now.

"I had visions of doing pro bono work here, but I didn't know I'd be worn out.

"Ray died in November 2006. We had been together for 60 years."

YOU HAVE OTHER FAMILY HERE? "Not here. I have a daughter Merle Jupiter-Hirsch in Cheshire, Conn., a son, Jay, in Alexandria, Va., five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren."

ARE YOU IN GOOD HEALTH? "The ravages of time beset me. But I get bored. I'm not interested in bingo. I sit in on trials. I enjoy that. And I have become friendly with (Jefferson County) Judge (Kim H.) Martusewicz and (Watertown City) Judge (James C.) Harberson. He graduated from St. John's the same time I did."

If you would like to suggest somebody for a Times Q&A feature, contact reporter Dave Shampine at dshampine@wdt.net.