Wednesday, April 13, 2005
Page 3
Memorial Set for Wakefield Taylor, Retired Appellate Jurist Was 93
From Staff and Wire Service Reports
A May 21 memorial service has been scheduled in the Bay Area for Wakefield Taylor, a longtime First District Court of Appeal justice and member of the California Judicial Council.
Taylor died April 6 at his Martinez home. He was 93.
Taylor, a 1937 graduate of Boalt Hall School of Law, served as a Contra Costa Superior Court judge before being named in 1963 to the Court of Appeal by then-Gov. Pat Brown. In 1970, then-Gov. Ronald Reagan appointed Taylor presiding justice.
He retired in 1982. .
Taylor once said his greatest job was serving as student body president at UC Berkeley in 1933-34. “He loved Cal,” said his daughter, Marylee Carmel Taylor.
Born in Ukiah in Mendocino County, Taylor was a Navy lieutenant during World War II. He began his career as a lawyer in private practice in San Francisco and later served simultaneously as Antioch’s city attorney and as chief deputy district attorney for Contra Costa County, as well as counsel for the Contra Costa Housing Authority, before being appointed to the Superior Court in 1951 by then-Gov. Earl Warren.
He once told a reporter that he believed the court should make additional efforts to reach consensus on cases, and that he tried to avoid the need for concurring or dissenting opinions.
The memorial service is to be held at the First Congregational Church in Martinez, according to the Connolly & Taylor funeral home.
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