2007
Matthew Saul Perlman, 71, a longtime partner in the Arent Fox law firm who specialized in government contract law, died Dec. 5 of
pancreatic cancer at his home in Potomac.
Mr. Perlman joined Arent Fox in 1969 after early experience in the federal government and military law. As a specialist in government
funding and construction, he worked on many high-profile projects in Washington, including the building of Verizon Center and the
Ronald Reagan Building.
In 1993, he won a case before the Supreme Court about postal rates on behalf of the Greeting Card Association.
Mr. Perlman was elected to the executive committee of Arent Fox and served on the firm's compensation committee. He retired in 2001
but remained counsel to Arent Fox and worked as an arbitrator until his death.
Mr. Perlman was born in Washington, attended Wilson High School and graduated from what was then called the Anglo-American High
School in Athens. He was a graduate of Brown University and received his law degree from Harvard Law School in 1960.
He was a legal officer in the Air Force from 1960 to 1965, when he became a judge on the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals.
After serving as general counsel to a presidential commission on the postal service, Mr. Perlman was an assistant general counsel with
the Department of Transportation from 1967 to 1969.
He served on President Ronald Reagan's transition team for the General Services Administration in 1980 and 1981 and was a member
of the advisory board of the publication Federal Contracts Report from 1970 to 1997. He also contributed articles to professional journals.
From 1975 to 1977, Mr. Perlman was president of the Civic Association of River Falls in Potomac. He later served on the Montgomery
County citizens advisory committee for the Rock Run Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant.
He was a member of the Cosmos Club.
Survivors include his wife of 41 years, Julia G. Perlman of Potomac; four children, Penelope Blank of Bethesda, Deborah Osofsky of
Concord, Mass., Sarah Perlman of New York and Jacob Perlman of Denver; a sister, Judith Martin of Washington; and four grandchildren.