Bernard “Bernie” Edelman, a prominent defense attorney in St. Louis for 30 years, died Tuesday, March 18, 2008, of natural causes, at his home in Sunset Hills. He was 63.

After serving as an assistant prosecuting attorney and as a public defender in St. Louis County, Mr. Edelman entered private practice in the mid-1970s, handling criminal and traffic cases. Judge Robert S. Cohen, St. Louis County Circuit Judge, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “He was a terrific lawyer and an even better person. Everyone he met seemed to become his friend — and that is unique because our business is often a contentious business.” The paper also mentions that defense lawyer Richard Sindel, who once shared office space with Mr. Edelman in Clayton, said Mr. Edelman was a mentor to many young criminal lawyers.

Mr. Edelman was involved with numerous “high profile” cases, including his representation of former St. Louis Circuit Attorney George Peach.

From 2000 until his death, Mr. Edelman was a partner with his son, Steven Edelman, in the law firm of Edelman & Edelman, in a criminal defense practice in Clayton.

Mr. Edelman was president of the Missouri Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers in the early 1990s, and served on its board. In 2005, Mr. Edelman won the Charles M. Shaw Award for excellence in trial advocacy. Mr. Edelman was reared in University City, and served in the U.S. Army and Army Reserves in the 1960s. He received his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Missouri. In addition to his son, survivors include a daughter, Susan Edelman of St. Louis; two brothers, Eugene Edelman of Birmingham, Ala., and Edward Edelman of San Francisco; a stepson, John Page of St. Louis; a step-daughter, Nicole Hatfield of St. Louis; and three stepgrandchildren. Services were held at Berger Memorial Chapel.