Metropolitan News-Enterprise

 

Friday, August 22, 2008

 

Page 3

 

Services Pending for Superior Court Judge Deanne Myers

 

By a MetNews Staff Writer

 

Services were pending yesterday for Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Deanne Smith Myers, who died from cancer Wednesday night at the age of 64.

Southwest District Supervising Judge Mark S. Arnold called Myers “a real trooper,” recalling that when she went through her first round of chemotherapy four years ago, “she was always very brave… very upbeat, very optimistic.”

Arnold sat in the courtroom next to Myers’ for nearly eight years and said he was struck by how hard Myers would work.

 “I don’t think she thought that coming to work was really work,” he said. “It was her life’s calling, she really loved it.”

Commissioner Douglas F. Carnahan also knew Myers from the Torrance courthouse and called her death “quite a loss.”

He praised her warm sense of humor and willingness to help her colleagues.

“She never turned down assignments, never turned down work,” he said. “You could ask her to do anything and she would do it well. That kind of a judge.”

Judge Deborah B. Andrews called Myers an “outstanding” colleage and friend. She said Myers was so dedicated to her work, “she wanted to work as long as she possibly could, even though she was terminally ill,” noting she remained on the bench until near the end of July.

Myers was appointed to the South Bay Municipal Court by then-Gov. George Deukmejian in 1989 and elevated by unification in 2000. She served at the Torrance courthouse for over 15 years, and then moved to the Long Beach courthouse.

The former Assistant U.S. Attorney and high school teacher spent nine years in private practice, concentrating mostly on business litigation prior to taking the bench.

She graduated cum laude from Loyola Law School in 1974 after obtaining a master’s degree in business and and undergraduate degrees from USC.

 

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