William Triant, Lawyer Offered 'Street Philosophies', 100

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"My father never did stop working," his son Dr. James Triant of
Wellesley said of Mr. Triant, who died March 12, 2005, in Massachusetts
General Hospital after a brief illness, at the age of 100.

William Triant was 17 when he left his small Greek village to start a
new life in America. Alone, with little money and no knowledge of the
English language, he took the long ocean journey to join an older
brother in Boston. Soon after he arrived in 1921, he set up a pushcart
in Faneuil Hall, where he sold fruits and vegetables and saved his
earnings to pursue his ultimate goal: to get the best education he
could.

Working the whole time he was in school and at law school, Mr. Triant
eventually became a lawyer, maintaining a practice in Boston for 65
years. They called him "Silver Fox" for his mane of white hair and his
courtroom finesse. He retired at 95.

Mr. Triant was active until his final illness, his son said, even
trading regularly in the stock market -- a profession he began in the
1930s -- while in the hospital. He lived on his own in Watertown until
he was 99.

In one of the many "street philosophies" that Mr. Triant coined, he
might have summed up his life with one of them: "The loss of courage is
an unforgivable sin."

It was a thought Mr. Triant conceived in law school at Northeastern
University, said his grandson William Triant of Wellesley, who
recounted a story his grandfather used to tell about a classmate in a
bar review class who challenged him to answer a question no one else
could by saying, ''Stand up there, you damn Greek!' "He did and he gave
the right answer," his grandson said.

"He always cited that story as the moment he realized he gained
confidence in himself," he said. "He said he always appreciated what
that person had done for him."

One of five children, Mr. Triant was born in the village of Vresthena
in the Greek Peloponnese. When he arrived in Boston, he knew he had to
work hard to earn tuition money, his son said.

He earned enough to attend Huntington Preparatory School in Boston.
After a while, he gave up his pushcart and started selling ice cream
for a wholesaler. His English got so good, his son said, that he lost
his accent.

In 1941, Mr. Triant married his longtime sweetheart, Virginia
Gianoukos. One of his street philosophies is about marriage: "A husband
and wife are like two yoked oxen. Their marriage works only when they
learn to pull together." Mrs. Triant died tragically in an automobile
accident after 25 years of marriage. Mr. Triant never remarried.

Mr. Triant learned a lot about why marriages fail from the many divorce
cases he tried, his grandson said. His adage about family: "A man
without a family is like a man without flag and country."

Although his wife died prematurely, Mr. Triant kept his family close.
His granddaughter Dr. Virginia Triant of Wellesley said that the moral
lessons he shared with her "have helped me to inform my life."
Morality, he would say, was his religion.

While practicing law full time, the adventurous and curious Mr. Triant
undertook other ventures. One was the exploration of natural gas.

In 1960, an advertisement he saw in a magazine led him to the
Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia, where he founded a gas
exploration company named Syndex Resources. He brought big drilling
rigs to the site, his son said. He was often found at the well sites
deep in mud with the men working them. They called him "Mountain Man."
Mr. Triant was involved with Syndex for 40 years before handing it over
to his son.

In his personal life, Mr. Triant led ''a Spartan existence," his
grandson said. "Bup kept very few possessions," William Triant said,
using a childhood name for his grandfather. "That made it difficult to
buy gifts for him." Instead, the family would extemporize: One gift
William Triant gave his grandfather was a pledge to read him the stock
prices as his vision dimmed.

Mr. Triant credited his longevity to "a Greek diet of fruits,
vegetables, and olive oil, and in trying to live an honorable life."

His family and friends looked forward to Mr. Triant's street
philosophies, and did not consider them lectures.

"He had advice for everybody, yet gave it in a way that was not
obtrusive," said former Radcliffe College president Matina Horner,
whose father was best man at Mr. Triant's wedding. "He loved and
relished life in a way that was contagious."

In one of his aphorisms, Mr. Triant put it this way: "Happiness must be
advertised so that it can be multiplied."

In addition to his son, his granddaughter, and his grandson, Mr. Triant
leaves another son, Arthur of Phoenix; four other grandchildren; and a
great-grandson.

Boston Globe