Mr. Michael C. Richman, a Cheltenham High School graduate, former Montgomery County district justice in Jenkintown Borough and Cheltenham Township, former vice chairman of the Cheltenham Township Planning Commission, longtime lawyer for basketball stars, private attorney, lecturer, and volunteer, passed away on Saturday, February 28, following a brief illness at Trustbridge Care Center in Boca Raton, Florida. He was 84.

Justice Richman grew up in Oxford Circle and Melrose Park and graduated from Cheltenham High School in 1959. According to his obituary, he was the son of Ike Richman, “onetime co-owner of the 76ers NBA basketball team, and he became lifelong friends and a lawyer for [Wilt] Chamberlain, [Sonny] Hill, and other prominent Philadelphians.”

His brother, David, a 1967 graduate of Cheltenham High School, later published a memoir titled “Wilt, Ike, & Me” about how his father founded the Philadelphia 76ers, and moved former NBA superstar Chamberlain into their Elkins Park home during the 1965 NBA season.

Justice Richman was a longtime member of Congregation Adath Jeshurun in Elkins Park and the board president of the Elkins Park Fire Company. He was also president of the Montgomery County District Justice Association, vice chair of the Cheltenham Township Planning Commission in the 1980s, and practiced privately with his father’s law firm and others for more than 50 years, semi-retiring in 2021.

A graduate of Temple University’s Beasley School of Law, Justice Richman “presided over hundreds of cases involving murder, assault, rape, theft, burglary, drunken driving, drugs, disorderly conduct, conspiracy, loitering, trespass, and other charges. He supervised arraignments and preliminary hearings, swore in other government officials, and spoke publicly about legal issues at schools and elsewhere,” his obituary said.

Private services are to be held later.

Donations in his name may be made to the Temple Owl Club, 1816 N. 15th St., Third Floor, Philadelphia, Pa. 19121; the Elkins Park Fire Co., 7818 Montgomery Ave., Elkins Park, Pa. 19027; and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, David Ben-Gurion Blvd. 1, Be’er Sheva, Israel.

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