SARATOGA SPRINGS — Lorraine Power Tharp, 60, a local attorney who was a past president of the New York State Bar Association, has died.

The state Bar Association announced her death in a news release this morning.

"Lorraine strongly believed that making a difference was not only her calling, but the duty of every attorney," said Bernice K. Leber, the current Bar Association president. "She once said that every single lawyer has the ability to help someone and to solve somebody's problem. Lorraine's legacy is her resounding belief that every lawyer counts and that every person counts, and she lived every day to pursue that higher calling."

Tharp servied as president of the association from 2002-03. She also served as the first female member of the New York State Racing Commission, chaired the Saratoga Springs Planning Board and served on the board of directors of many arts organizations, including the Saratoga Performing Arts Center Inc. She received the 1995 Leadership Saratoga Distinguished Alumni Award, the 2002 Saratoga Soroptimist Club's Woman of the Year Award and the 2003 Albany-Colonie Chamber of Commerce's Woman of Excellence in the Professions Award.

A native of Massena, Tharp graduated from Smith College and earned her law degree from Cornell Law School. She was the first female lawyer at McNamee Lochner Titus & Williams in 1978 and later became the first female partner in 1981. She became a partner of Whiteman Osterman & Hanna LLP, chairing the Commercial and Residential Real Estate Practice Group.

A 35-year practicing lawyer, Tharp received the Albany Law School's prestigious Kate Stoneman Award in 2003 and the New York County Lawyers' Association's Outstanding Women of the Bar honor in 2004.