Honorees

James Don Keller

1904-1972

James Don Keller was born in Detroit, Michigan on March 2, 1904.  His father, owner of an airplane company, died when Don was 6 years old.  After the death of his father, Don Keller and his mother moved to California.  He attended San Diego High School and, at the age of 16, went to work at a downtown bank. “They hired me as a baseball player on the bank team,” he stated later.  He did manage some clerical work at the bank.  He later would work at banks in San Francisco and Los Angeles. 

While attending San Diego High School, Don joined a fraternity.  Through the fraternity he soon met attorney and later Superior Court Judge Gordon Thompson, Sr.  It was this association that impressed Don to consider the legal profession.  After high school, Don attended San Diego State University.  While at college, he met Rita Hamann and they were married in 1929. 

Over the next few years Don worked and studied law.  He later recalled that he “worked days and went to school nights; worked nights and went to school days.”  His persistence paid off and at the age of 35 he completed his studies and was admitted to practice. 

He initially made good use of his banking experience by working as an attorney for the legal and trust department of a bank.  He then went into private practice in San Diego.  He moved on to serve as deputy city attorney and as assistant city prosecutor before returning to private practice.   His path to become District Attorney started when he supported another attorney’s decision to run.  When that attorney decided he would not run, Don decided he would. “To make it a contest I filed,” he recounted later.  Future congressman Bob Wilson ran his campaign and Don defeated the sitting District Attorney Thomas Whelan in 1946.  He held the position as District Attorney for the County of San Diego until 1971.

Judge William Enright, who had served as a Deputy District Attorney in the 1950s, wrote as a tribute:  “all those who worked for or with Don Keller during his years as District Attorney of San Diego County can attest the great debt owed and the stature of the man.  Scores of attorneys practicing in this county have passed through his office; their lives have been guided and their careers have been shaped by the attributes and standards of this man.  It was known to us then – and most poignantly now – that here indeed was a man who would have an influence long beyond his time.” 

Don quickly made his influence felt as District Attorney.  He ordered a raid on a National City cocktail lounge.  His undercover people got themselves invited to the manager’s office and then through a secret door to the upstairs casino.  It was there that patrons were relieved of their cash by use of marked cards, loaded dice, and rigged roulette tables.  The illegal casino was shut down and the term “Keller Raids” was started. 

During his years in office, Don gained the reputation as a champion of law and order.  He was appointed by Governor Earl Warren to the California Crime Commission.  He was a proponent of good government and an efficient judicial system.  His office mounted drives against bookmaking and gambling, narcotics traffic and sales, consumer fraud, pornography and welfare abuses.  He was one of the first to propose cooperation between the US and Mexico to combat narcotics trafficking.  He encouraged federal, state, and local agencies to work together to fight consumer fraud.  He urged working with the press to balance the public’s need to be informed with the defendant’s right to a fair trial.

Don made a career of fighting public corruption. During the 1950s, he convicted numerous public officials and others of bribery and other criminal charges relating to a state liquor license probe.  One of the defendants was William G. Bonelli, a member of the State Board of Equalization.  Mr. Bonelli was indicted and then fled to Mexico.  Another investigation involved bribes being paid to employees of the assessor’s office.  Bribes were paid in exchange for lower assessed property valuations.  Several convictions were obtained as a result of this investigation. 

A year after he left office, Don Keller died while vacationing in Spain  He was 68.  His memory is honored by a plaque in the San Diego Hall of Justice.  An inscription on the plaque, taken from a eulogy written by U.S. District Judge William Enright, states: “His life represented the epitome of able, dedicated public service–he was a lawyer of complete integrity and, above all, a good, thoroughly decent, gentle man.”

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