Henry G. Weaver, Jr., 90, attorney with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, died on January 23, 2018.

Weaver worked behind the scenes in state service for over 22 years starting with his appointment to assistant attorney general in 1963 by newly elected Attorney General Edward W. Brooke.

Weaver triggered the reform of Massachusetts eminent domain procedures that became a signal achievement of Brook's first term in office by advancing a position that paying a token $1.00 for land to expand the interstate highway program was an unlawful abuse of power.

As legal counsel to the Executive Office for Administration and Finance (A&F), he drafted enabling legislation for a major reorganization of the state government that took effect in 1971.

He served as advisor to officials of A&F and other state agencies on the legal, fiscal, and administrative challenges presented by programs novel at the time – such as affirmative action, state-administered public welfare, government reorganization, fiscal autonomy for the higher education establishment, and the Quinn Bill regarding police officer compensation.

In early 1973 Weaver became senior counsel to the newly created Massachusetts Appeals Court. The court was severely undermanned for an ever-increasing caseload.  He ultimately supervised a summary disposition program to rapidly process appropriate cases, considerably reducing the backlog.

From 1979 till 2014, including 29 years of retirement, Weaver assembled in book form a large collection of Massachusetts cases on civil appeals, updated annually, for the benefit of the justices and legal staff of the Appeals Court and waived any legal interest he might have asserted under copyright laws. As its distribution widened to SJC justices and others, it came to be known by insiders as " The Weaverology ".

Weaver was born in 1927 in Detroit, Michigan and was an alumnus of Deerfield Academy, Williams College, and Harvard Law School. He served in the United State Army from 1945 to 1946 in Casablanca, and in Korea 1950 to 1951 in non-combat roles.

He and his late wife was Lucy Tabb Mason of Richmond, Virginia, had no children. However, he leaves many nieces, cousins, and friends whom he loved.

Apart from the law, his principal interests were classical music, history, and literature. As a young man he studied piano under Karl Haas, the classical music radio host.  He was a member and past moderator of the Bedford-Lexington Great Books Group and Current Events group, Lexington Community Center.

A memorial service will be held at 10:30, Feb. 9, at the Hancock United Church of Christ. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to a charity of your choice. http://www.douglassfh.com/obituaries