T. R. Sheridan; Trial Lawyer, Led Inquiry of Watts Riots

Thomas R. Sheridan, a prominent Los Angeles trial lawyer who served as executive director of the McCone Commission and special assistant to the U.S. attorney general, died Thursday. He was 60.

Sheridan died of cardiac arrest at St. Vincent’s Medical Center where he had been hospitalized for several weeks. He had also suffered a series of strokes.

U.S. Atty. Gen. Robert F. Kennedy had appointed Sheridan his special assistant in 1962.

Sheridan was named general counsel and executive director of the McCone Commission which was set up immediately after the Watts riots in 1965. The commission explored the cause of the upheaval and made recommendations for avoiding future violence.

Born in Boston, Sheridan was graduated from Catholic University of America in Washington and earned his law degree at UCLA.

He first worked as a trial attorney in the antitrust division of the federal Department of Justice and later headed the criminal division of the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles.

Sheridan had been in private practice since 1965 in the Los Angeles firm of Simon & Sheridan which he formed with William G. Simon.

Among his best-known clients was C. Arnholt Smith, the San Diego millionaire who was convicted in 1975 of making illegal campaign contributions and pleaded no contest to conspiracy and misapplication of funds from his defunct U.S. National Bank.

Survivors include four sons, Michael, Stephen, Kevin and Robert; two brothers; two sisters; two grandsons, and several nieces and nephews and great-nieces and great-nephews.

Services will be held at 11 a.m. Monday in San Fernando Mission Rey Chapel, followed by burial in San Fernando Mission Cemetery, Mission Hills.

The family has asked that memorial donations be made to any favorite charity.