Ricardo A. Mestres Jr.’s career at Sullivan & Cromwell spanned 62 years and 12 presidential administrations. Mestres, 89, who led the firm as chairman between 1995 and 2000, died on Monday.

Mestres was born in 1933 in Princeton, New Jersey, according to a Sullivan & Cromwell press release. He graduated from Princeton University, where his father was financial vice president, and then enlisted in the U.S. Navy as an anti-submarine warfare officer. Afterward, he attended Harvard Law School, graduating cum laude in 1961 and joining Sullivan & Cromwell the same year. In 1968, he made partner. He was a senior counsel at the time of his death.