Decof served as a
captain in the
United States Marine Corps. He served during
World War II in the
Pacific Theater of Operations in
Guam from 1943 to 1946 and at
Parris Island, South Carolina from 1950 to 1952. In 1975, Decof represented Lawrence Ketvirtis in a $1.5 million lawsuit against the basketball player
Marvin Barnes. Ketvirtis alleged that Barnes attacked him with a
tire iron, causing permanent physical injury, while the two men were teammates at
Providence College. He won the case, with the jury returning a $10,000 verdict for Ketvirtis. In 1991, at the request of
Governor Bruce Sundlun, Decof represented the State of Rhode Island in litigation following "the collapse of the insurance system that backed state
credit unions." He recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for the state, for which he received a public commendation from Governor
Lincoln Almond in February 2001. He also represented
Nike Golf and several
professional golfers, including
Adam Scott,
Greg Norman,
Sam Snead,
Billy Casper, and
Gardner Dickinson. Decof was a member of the
Rhode Island Bar Association,
American Bar Association,
Association of Trial Lawyers of America, International Academy of Trial Lawyers,
Inner Circle of Advocates, and the
International Society of Barristers, a diplomate of the American Board of Trial Advocates, and a fellow of the
American College of Trial Lawyers and
American Law Institute. He lectured before several bar associations and at several law schools and wrote a number of published legal pieces. == Personal life and death ==