Ed Masry, the crusading environmental lawyer portrayed by actor Albert Finney in the movie “Erin Brockovich,” which was based on Masry’s landmark $333 million settlement against Pacific Gas & Electric Co. for groundwater contamination in California’s high desert, has died.
Mr. Masry, 73, died Monday of complications from diabetes.
He had been repeatedly hospitalized since March. On Nov. 30, he resigned from the Thousand Oaks City Council, on which he had served for five years.
The lawyer sprang to prominence when the 2000 motion picture chronicled his remarkable legal achievement along with that of his legal assistant, the real-life Erin Brockovich, portrayed by Julia Roberts. The film was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Finney for best actor; Roberts won the Oscar for best actress.
