Thursday, September 6, 2007
Page 3
Services Saturday for Attorney Frank Gasdia
By a MetNews Staff Writer
Services will be held Saturday for attorney Frank R. Gasdia, who died Aug. 27 at age 88.
Gasdia practiced in Downey for more than 50 years, retiring in 2004. For 15 of those years, he partnered with his son, who left the firm in 1997 to become a Los Angeles Superior Court judge.
“Every day I was a lawyer he was my partner,” Brian Gasdia told the MetNews. “He was proud of what he did, and did everything he could to do it right. What a privilege to practice with someone with that type of ethics, skill, and knowledge of what a lawyer is supposed to do.”
Frank Gasdia specialized in commercial law and tried cases before federal courts in several states. He was a longtime member of the Southeast Bar Association, serving as its president in 1962, and he served for many years as an arbitrator with the American Arbitration Association as well as a trustee of the Los Angeles County Law Library.
He took an active role in community affairs, acting as campaign chair for Republican Congressman Del Clawson for 16 years, and as a longtime member of the Rio Hondo Golf Course Authority and the Downey Community Hospital Authority.
Gasdia also was a president of the Lion’s Club in Huntington Park, a member of the morning Kiwanis Club in Downey and an inaugural member of Candlewood County Club in Whittier.
Born Aug. 26, 1919 and raised in Newark, N.J. Gasdia graduated from high school at age 15. He later enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1940 and graduated first in his class from Officer’s Candidates School, ultimately rising to the rank of 1st Lieutenant. In 1945, he served as the officer in charge of a German prisoner of war camp in Belgium.
After the war, he attended Southwestern University Law School, where he graduated first in his class in 1951.
In 1953, Gasdia moved to Downey where he established his legal practice.
In addition to his son, Gasdia is survived by his wife of 63 years, Elenore Gasdia, and four grandchildren. He is also survived by his sister, Eileen Barker of Turnersville, N.J. His younger brother, Ronald Gasdia, predeceased him in 2004.
Services are scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday at the First Baptist Church in Downey. Family members have requested that, in lieu of flowers, donations in Gasdia’s memory be made to the Southwestern Law School Alumni Scholarship Fund.
Copyright 2007, Metropolitan News Company