He grew up in the Bronx, was a New York City cop, and began his legal career in the 1960s working on civil rights cases in the south for Bobby Kennedy’s justice department. It was the first of numerous forays into human rights advocacy that would later find Denis Dillon, during his 31 years as District Attorney of Nassau County, speaking out for persecuted Jews in the Soviet Union and Catholics in Northern Ireland, and working to assist troubled youths here on Long Island. His efforts were generally met with enthusiastic approval from local media, who never troubled themselves about whether he was stepping “beyond his jurisdiction” as District Attorney – until of course, he turned his attention to the rights of unborn children.