Honorees

Myron “Mike” Kaminar

1915-1973

Born in Jersey City, New Jersey in 1915, Mike Kaminar died in 1973, aged 58.  As said by a contemporary of his, John Sorbo, “He was one of the finest trial lawyers of his generation, and a leader at the Bar and in the community who won respect for his profession as well as for himself.  [His] life was marked by struggle, achievement, and fulfillment.  He grew to manhood during the Depression.  For years he worked at night to finance the college and law school classes he attended during the day.  By the time he was ready to practice, the war had begun and he enlisted in the Navy as a seaman.” (Dicta, March 1973).

“He served his country with great distinction.  After completing midshipmen’s school he was assigned to command landing craft in ten of the Pacific Island invasions, including the bloody assaults on Tarawa, Saipan and Okinawa.  He never spoke of his role in the war to his associates, who learned of it for the first time after his death.” (Id.)

Mike also served his community and his profession with great distinction. After graduating from Loyola Law School, Kaminar “began his career as a Deputy City Prosecutor and soon moved to the District Attorney’s Office, where his gifts as a trial lawyer were quickly recognized.” (Id.)   He handled the most important, difficult and complex cases in the office with great success.  His calm, poised manner, his unflappable presence, and his well prepared presentations made him one of the most effective prosecutors in the office.

When he entered private practice in 1950, his reputation as an outstanding trial lawyer attracted many of the major cases of that period until his retirement in 1970. He defended some of the most controversial and celebrated cases of that time, including the corruption trial of a National City Council woman and persons accused in the Bonelli liquor license bribery scandal.  He discharged his responsibilities ably and with the highest professional standards.  “He was a lawyer’s lawyer, a man to whom other professionals came for counsel.  During his busy years of practice, he served the Bar as an officer and director, worked on many committees, and for two years, as assistant secretary of the State Bar, performed a key role in the Disciplinary function of the bar.” (Id.)

To family, friends and partners, he was a man for all seasons, selfless, compassionate, loving.  He was not a religious man, concerned with creeds and the destiny of man.  Experience taught him the simple creed he followed, eloquently stated by Alan Paton, the South African writer he admired.

I shall no longer ask myself if this or that is expedient but only if it is
right.  I shall do this, not because I am noble or unselfish, but because
life slips away, and because I need for the rest of my journey a star
that will not play false to me, a compass that will not lie . . . I do this
not because I am courageous and honest but because it is the only
way to end the conflict of my deepest soul.  I do it because I am no longer able to aspire to the highest with one part of myself, and to
deny it with another.

He aspired to the highest with his whole being, and those whose lives he touched know how well he succeeded.  Taken from the prime of his life, a loving husband and devoted father, San Diego was enriched for the years it shared with this gentle, kindly man, this gifted lawyer, and cherished friend.  (Id.)

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