In the final weeks of Jim Martin's 25-year run as Lehigh County district attorney, county commissioners put his full name on the regional intelligence center he had helped build. Martin, the county's longest-serving district attorney and an architect of institutions linking prosecutors, police and victim services, died on August 15, 2026, at his Upper Saucon Township home, The Morning Call reported. He was 81.

Martin's path to countywide leadership began in the Lehigh Valley. He graduated from Allentown Central Catholic High School, studied at Mount St. Mary's University and earned his law degree at Temple University. He worked in prosecution and public defense before becoming first assistant district attorney in 1981.

That experience gave Martin a view of justice from more than one table. He later reduced the prosecutor's job to a standard: "The district attorney, and I feel strongly about this, has to be a minister of justice." Commissioners appointed him in January 1998. Voters then elected him six times.

Martin used those years to build shared institutions. In 2001, he empaneled Lehigh County's first investigating grand jury and established the Child Advocacy Center, placing law enforcement, child welfare caseworkers and health professionals together for young victims. Pennsylvania Courts recorded both initiatives among the changes he led.

The pattern continued: identify a gap and give specialists a permanent place to work together. Martin formed the Lehigh County Homicide Task Force in 2005. He created an Elder Abuse Task Force and central booking center in 2007. His 2011 Veterans' Mentoring Program paired community veterans with veterans facing nonviolent charges.

Technology became another part of that structure. Martin helped launch the Officer David M. Petzold Digital Forensics Laboratory at DeSales University in 2011 with the university and the Petzold foundation. Scott McCulloch, who later led the lab, told DeSales University that Martin saw the need for continuous staffing. The lab grew from serving Lehigh County departments to assisting agencies across the region and training students.

Martin's major connecting project was the Regional Intelligence and Investigation Center, opened in 2013. It combined local, state and federal data sources so analysts and police could work across municipal borders. A decade later, commissioners unanimously renamed it the James B. Martin Regional Intelligence and Investigation Center. Lehigh Valley Public Media reported that the dedication recognized his role in creating it.

His attention extended beyond investigative systems. Martin helped establish a specialized Domestic Violence Court in 2014. He supported a task force connecting police and schools, and his office introduced Ramona, a black Labrador, as a courthouse companion for young and elderly victims. Each program turned the district attorney's reach into something people could keep using.

Patricia, Martin's wife of 34 years, died in October 2023. Martin completed his term and handed the office to Gavin Holihan in January 2024. Holihan later described him as a transformational figure who greatly expanded the office's responsibilities.

The institutions carry the story forward: the child advocacy center's shared rooms, the Petzold lab's forensic workstations, investigators joined across jurisdictions, veterans paired with mentors and an intelligence center bearing the name James B. Martin. Together they map how one prosecutor spent a quarter-century making cooperation part of Lehigh County's public life.