Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Page 3
Services Set for Jack Delavigne, Retired Deputy District Attorney
By a MetNews Staff Writer
Services have been set for Saturday for long-time Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Jack Delavigne, who suddenly passed away Oct. 1 at the age of 76.
The 10 a.m. memorial is scheduled to take place at the Sacred Heart Chapel on the Loyola Marymount University campus, located at 1 LMU Drive in Los Angeles.
District Attorney Steve Cooley praised Delavigne yesterday as “an incredibly fine person and dedicated county prosecutor” who “cared very much about the justice system and it being both fair and accurate.”
Delavigne earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from USC prior to attending Southwestern Law School, where he earned his law degree in 1967.
He began his career with the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office in 1970 and was one of the original deputies assigned to the Crimes Against Peace Officers Section, Chief Deputy District Attorney John K. Spillane said in a memorandum to fellow prosecutors.
Over the course of his 27 years with the office, Delavigne served assignments in Juvenile and Central Trials, the Compton, Torrance, Long Beach and Santa Monica Branch Offices and the Inglewood area, Spillane said. Delavigne also served as the Deputy-in-Charge of the Huntington Park Area Office from 1990 to 1993.
The media spotlight fell on the attorney in 1992 while he supervised the prosecution of Elvira Johnson, a 42-year-old surrogate mother, whom the office charged with welfare fraud. Johnson’s custody case made national news when she sued for custody after the couple for whom she bore a child divorced.
Although Delavigne retired in 1997, he continued to work on a part-time basis in the Lifer Hearing Unit starting in 2005, Spillane added, commenting that Delavigne frequently traveled to hearings throughout the state and “thoroughly seemed to enjoy the tasks associated with parole hearings.”
Spillane noted that Delavigne was an active outdoorsman who went camping just two weeks prior to his death and often enjoyed sailing. Delavigne recently hiked across the High Sierras with former Assistant District Attorney Richard Jenkins.
Delavigne was also a member of the Footprinters Organization and the Italian American Bar Association for many years.
He is survived by his former wife, Judy Delavigne, his son, John Delavigne, his daughter and son-in-law, Cami and Ivan Hurzeler, his sister and brother-in-law Margaret and Dick Porter, and his nieces and nephews and their families.
Copyright 2009, Metropolitan News Company