Governor-elect’s father remembered as analytical justice who was devoted to the environment

Retired 1st District Court of Appeal Justice William A. Newsom III died Wednesday. He was 84.

Newsom, the father of governor-elect Gavin Newsom, leaves a legacy as an environmental activist, an attorney and a jurist on the county and appellate levels.

The elder Newsom was remembered this week for hearing a landmark case involving the Bohemian Grove, his connections to three of California’s most powerful families, and for forming the Mountain Lion Foundation. In 1990, he helped lead an initiative campaign to ban mountain lion hunting and protect their habitat.

“I think he would tell you that was one his best accomplishments of his lifetime,” said Charles Warren Rider, who worked with Newson for 15 years as staff attorney on the 1st District Court of Appeal, Division One. “I absolutely believe it wouldn’t have happened without him.”

As a justice, Newsom was able to carefully walk a fine line over the course of that campaign, said Carl Pope, a close friend who was president of the Sierra Club for 18 years. The pair met decades ago when Pope led a land use planning workshop in the Sierra foothills and later spent weekend trips looking for arrowheads in the region.

“He had to recuse himself from certain cases,” Pope said. “He didn’t work for political candidates. He wasn’t lobbying. I’m sure there would be more scrutiny today.”

Newsom was born in 1934 to a well-connected family in San Francisco. His late sister Barbara was married for a time to a brother-in-law of House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi. His father, William A. Newsom II, managed Pat Brown’s successful campaign for San Francisco district attorney.

He met oil heir Gordon Getty while attended the city’s St. Ignatius Catholic prep school, then worked for the Gettys after graduating from Stanford Law School.

His marriage to Tessa Menzies lasted five years, ending when Gavin and his sister Hilary were young children. After the separation, the elder Newsom took up a private practice in Tahoe City.

Gov. Jerry Brown named him to the Placer County court in 1975. He left in 1978 to join the appellate bench. His most famous written opinion was probably Bohemian Club v. Fair Employment & Housing Com. (1986) 187 Cal.App.3d 1, 19-20. He found that the famed club could not enforce a ban on hiring women.

Newsom retired in 1995.

Rider said he got to know Gavin Newsom as a high schooler, when he and the elder Newsom brought him along on one of their many “tough” camping trips, this one above 5,000 feet of altitude.

“I can tell you Gavin never complained a bit,” Rider said. “We hiked upwards of 10 to 15 miles a day. He kept up.”

Newsom administered the oath of office to his son twice as lieutenant governor. In a statement released Wednesday, the governor-elect called his father “a public servant of profound accomplishment and a powerful voice for individual rights and environmental protection.”

As a justice, Newsom served as a mentor to a younger generation of attorneys. Ruth V. Glick, an extern for him on the appellate court from 1990 to 1991, described him as an “analytical” and “disciplined” justice who obsessed over the “credible facts” of the case.

She said his focus on the correct process still influences her arbitration and mediation practice.

“He was very personable and approachable and cared about the impact of his decisions,” Glick said.

Santa Barbara County Superior Court Judge Brian Hill clerked for Newsom in 1979. He called the justice a mentor who made him appreciate how early experiences in the field can shape an attorney’s career.

“He was gracious, intellectual, smart, and very generous with this time,” Hill said. “He inspired me to seek a position on the bench.”

Hill added that Newsom was a “social animal” who knew many people across a wide variety of professions.

“He was a bit of a bon vivant,” Hill said. “He enjoyed going out, talking about the law and enjoying a glass of wine.”