Prominent Edmonton lawyer Sid Tarrabain was killed in a traffic accident on a highway north of Edmonton Sunday afternoon.

RCMP said the crash happened just before 2 p.m. on Highway 28 north of Gibbons near Goose Hummock golf course.

According to police, the southbound SUV that Tarrabain was driving collided head-on with a pickup truck pulling a fifth-wheel trailer.

The male driver and the female passenger in the pickup were taken to hospital with serious injuries.

Tarrabain is survived by his wife Sharon and three children. He also leaves behind his mother and nine sisters.

His brother-in-law, Sine Chadi, said the fatal crash is the second tragedy recently faced by the family.

Edmonton lawyer Sid Tarrabain was killed in a traffic collision Sunday. (Tarrabain & Company)"Sid's mother, she just buried a husband of 57 years and now tomorrow will bury her only son," he said. "This is a tragedy in itself two months later."

Tarrabain was a criminal defence lawyer who had a number of high profile clients and had argued cases in front of the Supreme Court. He was known to take on cases pro-bono if a client couldn't pay.

"Sid was a philanthropist," Chadi said. "He was the kind of guy that would give not only his time, but he would give his resources. He would give his money and he'd go out and even canvass on behalf of charities."

Lynn Rideout, a spokeswoman for Tarrabain's law firm, said people in the officer are in shock.

"We are handling the matters that need to be dealt with immediately and we're reviewing everybody's files to keep everybody up to date and we'll get to things as quickly as we can," she said.

A memorial for Tarrabain will be held Tuesday morning at the Islamic Academy.