Nedda Irene Pray, an attorney who successfully represented wrongfully terminated Rite Aid employees and was a Baltimore County land preservation activist, died of cardiac arrest Dec. 7 while vacationing in Switzerland. She was 73 and lived in Mays Chapel.

Born in Walnut Creek, California, and raised in Fremont, she was the daughter of Robert Landone Pray, who owned a diner, and Marilyn Madden Pray, an urban planner. She later moved to Hyattsville.

She was a graduate of the University of Maryland School of Law, where she was a member of the Law Review.

In law school, she met fellow student Joseph L. Evans. They graduated in 1978 and married in 1980.

After serving as a Harford County assistant state’s attorney, she opened a solo practice law office on Pennsylvania Avenue in Towson.

In 1984, she won a $5 million jury verdict in Baltimore City Circuit Court on behalf of four East Baltimore women who had been retaliated against and ultimately fired from store positions at Rite Aid for refusing to take polygraph tests, which were being required as a condition of their employment in violation of Maryland law.

Ms. Pray argued the four women “did nothing wrong and didn’t have to prove their integrity,” according to The Sun. She and attorney Stephen Langhoff argued the case.

The jury said the women had been “abusively discharged” and were the victims of “intentional affliction of emotional distress.” That verdict was upheld on appeal.

“Nedda was able to keep her caseload very low, and as a result, she could devote significantly more time to her clients and their cases than did most lawyers. Her clients adored her,” said her husband, Joseph L. Evans.

Nearly 25 years ago, she withdrew from her law practice because of debilitating migraines and other medical conditions.

She became active in the Greater Sparks-Glencoe Community Planning Council, a land preservation organization in northern Baltimore County. She fought a bill to allow agritourism — petting zoos, corn mazes and pumpkin patches— in areas designated for agriculture.

“One overriding concern is that these celebratory events that [could be] allowed have nothing to do with agriculture itself,” she said in a 2014 Sun story.

In 2017, Councilman Wade Kach appointed her to the Baltimore County Charter Commission, which was rewriting the county charter.

“She represented a strong voice for residents and citizen community organizations and was responsible for defeating a number of proposed charter amendments that would have benefited powerful commercial interests over the welfare of neighborhoods and community groups,” her husband said.

Throughout her life, she and her husband traveled widely, but her medical condition made long vacations increasingly difficult.

“While we were able to squeeze in several trips, she was essentially housebound for the past four years,” said her husband. “We thought the trip to the Rhine Valley would most likely be the last time she could ever travel.”

Survivors include her husband, Joseph L. Evans, an attorney; a son, Zachary Evans, of Baltimore; a brother, Dr. Howard Pray, of El Paso, Texas; and a nephew, Gregory Spencer, of Lake Tahoe, California.

A celebration of life is being planned.

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