Microsoft job brought lawyer to the Northwest

Matt Ammon was a bright young attorney who loved legal challenges, fast cars, football and playing cards.

Microsoft wooed the Pittsburgh native to the Northwest earlier this year. Ammon had done work for the technology giant as a patent lawyer at the Kansas City, Mo., law firm Shook, Hardy & Bacon before moving to Bellevue in June.

Ammon, 31, was killed Thursday when a tower crane collapsed in downtown Bellevue and the crane's 154-foot jib sliced through the roof of his fourth-floor apartment in the Pinnacle BellCentre complex at 308 108th Ave. N.E.

"Today is a very sad day for the people at Microsoft," said Brad Smith, the company's senior vice president and general counsel, who praised Ammon's skills in intellectual property law.

"He was a man of integrity. ... He stuck to his word," said Jake Ferderer, a mechanical engineer for PACCAR who first met Ammon on an Internet car forum a year ago. The two became good friends after Ammon moved into an apartment a block away from Ferderer.

"He was a down-to-earth, humble guy" who enjoyed racing his Nogaro blue Audi S4 at local race tracks and sharing his driving expertise with other car enthusiasts, Ferderer said. Ammon also rode a yellow Triumph motorcycle.

A Pittsburgh Steelers fan, Ammon teased his friends here about the Seattle Seahawks' Super Bowl loss last season. Ferderer said his friend was probably watching Thursday's college football game between the universities of Pittsburgh and West Virginia when he was killed.

Ferderer last saw Ammon on Wednesday at a weekly get-together at a Bellevue bar. When he learned of the crane accident, Ferderer said, he knew something was wrong when Ammon didn't reply to voice and e-mail messages.

"It was one of those things where your stomach falls and your heart just beats," he said. "It's just crazy [the crane] just happened to hit that one apartment."

Scott Strohm, a fellow attorney who worked with Ammon in Kansas City, said Ammon enjoyed the challenge of working for Microsoft.

"He was an excellent, excellent attorney and [he was] super smart," Strohm said. "Being around good people and smart people made him happy."

Ammon also had an affinity for poker, especially Texas Hold 'Em, Strohm said.

"He was hard to read, a good bluffer," he said. "You never knew what cards he had."

Ammon graduated in the top fifth of his class at Duquesne University's law school in Pittsburgh, said law professor Raymond Sekula, who remembered Ammon as a quiet and diligent student.

"He was a wonderful young fellow, just a terrific kid," said Sekula. "He was always well prepared and was very serious about being a student, yet was one of those students who was well liked and respected by his classmates."

Sekula said he and his wife are friends with Ammon's mother and stepfather, Kathleen and Paul Gaberson of Pittsburgh. Kathleen Gaberson used to work for Duquesne University's nursing school but has since changed jobs, he said.

Ammon's father, Larry Ammon, lives in Orchard Park, N.Y.

Seattle Times researcher David Turim contributed to this report.

Sara Jean Green: 206-515-5654 or sgreen@seattletimes.com