Troy Pieper, attorney who lectured at family's bar review school, dies at 53

In the wheel of life, Troy Pieper was the hub, family and friends said.

The spokes radiated to people he helped financially, to friends who rarely missed decades of annual trips with him and to his extended family.

Longtime friend Michael Brielmann remembers trying to seal a distributor deal in Ireland and his business associates wanting to hang out with Pieper, who was on the trip as legal support.

"He was able to connect with people and do it very authentically and very quickly," Brielmann said.

Pieper, an attorney who lectured at the family’s noted Pieper Bar Review school and also served as the Upper Brookville village justice, died of colon cancer on Feb. 23. The Muttontown resident was 53.

He prized the traditions of a quality life, those who knew him said. Each year for 30-plus years, he organized the "Windham Weekend" for about 20 guys and also a Las Vegas trip, and if one didn’t go, he’d treat them to "radio silence" until they got back in his good graces. He visited his parents at least three times a week, often teasing his mother so she’d say, "He’s so fresh." At noon on Yankees day games, he’d tell his father and brother they were all going to watch and that was the end of the workday.

Once he told a law professor friend and music lover that he’d lose respect for him if he didn’t buy the $5,000 turntable he wanted.

"He’s like, ‘Why do we work?’ " Kirk Burkhalter recalled. "He was always encouraging you to stop and look around and appreciate life and what you have. I always felt better when I got off the phone with him ... and better after we had dinner."

Known for one-liners

Known for his one-liners, Pieper could break out a zinger about somebody or a self-deprecating remark.

On a recent gathering to fete a late pal, Brielmann recalled, one friend commented that it was the first death in their group and Pieper responded with a straight face, "ChatGPT says I’m next."

The oldest of three children, Pieper grew up helping his father, John, in the law study business he operated. He made copies of his father’s lectures for students, from cassettes to VHS, then listened to each copy to make sure there were no blank spots.

Pieper graduated from St. John’s University and passed the bar in 1997; that same year he was hired at the Rivkin Radler law firm in Uniondale before moving in 2000 to Cadwalader, Wickersham and Taft, a financial services law firm in Manhattan.

After getting experience in insurance, corporate and financial cases, he joined his father’s Pieper Bar Review business in 2003 as a director and teacher, engaging thousands of students over the course of 25 years, his brother said. He liked getting into the weeds of the law, especially criminal law, said his brother, Damian Pieper, who also taught there, and he’d present interesting cases and lessons to define his points.

Although Troy invested his earnings shrewdly and saved, said Damian, of Manhasset, "he didn’t have a frugal bone in his body,"

Meaningful presents

Whether it was a birthday, Christmas or another celebration, Pieper always wanted to bring the best, most meaningful present, his brother said. He invested in friends’ projects so they could have the opportunity to succeed, and he often lent money, including $10,000 to the owner of a restaurant he liked.

"He never showed up empty-handed," his brother said. "If he could get a smile on your face and it cost twice as much, he wanted to do that."

Pieper rolled out his time and knowledge on people’s problems, from houses to medical expenses, Brielmann said: "He was the solution."

He also liked having the last word and making each moment the best, such as sharing a bottle of wine, his brother said.

Pieper had both at the end with a note he left for his loved ones before losing consciousness: "Team Troy, Good morning. I am awake and sipping Champagne on the veranda by the pool deck. Join if you can."

Besides his brother, he is survived by his parents Karin and John Pieper, of Upper Brookville, and sister, Kristina Trautmann, of Muttontown.

A funeral service was held on March 7 at Dodge-Thomas Funeral Home in Glen Cove. He was cremated.