Jervis came to Princeton from Phillips Academy and majored in politics in the American civilization program. He was a member of Ivy Club, active in the Student Christian Association, and he served as a chapel deacon.
After graduation, Jervis served in the military as a paratrooper. He graduated from Harvard Law School in 1958 and began a lifelong association with the firm of Ober, Kaler, Grimes & Shriver in Baltimore.
Jervis started his political career with the Robert A. Taft campaign of 1952. He was elected to the Baltimore County Council in 1962 and to the Maryland State Senate in 1966. After a failed campaign for Baltimore County executive, President Gerald R. Ford named Jervis U.S. attorney for Maryland in 1975.
His term in that position was dominated by the political corruption trial of former Gov. Marvin Mandel and several other public officials. When those trials ended in convictions in 1978, Jervis stepped down as U.S. attorney and returned to his law firm. Former Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich ’79 said of him, “He was one of the best lawyers in the country and a dominant figure in Maryland politics for 50 years.”
In his spare time, Jervis and his partner won a Canadian and U.S. squash doubles championship in 1997 for 55-year-olds. He was inducted into the Maryland State Squash Hall of Fame in 2005.