John Gabbert

{{Short description|California Court of Appeal justice}} {{Infobox person | name = John G. Gabbert | image =  | alt = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1909|06|20}} | birth_place = Oxnard, California, US | death_date = {{Death date and age|2013|12|09|1909|06|20}} | death_place = Riverside, California, US | other_names = | occupation = Associate Justice of the California Court of Appeals | known_for = Advocacy to found University of California, Riverside }} '''John Gordon Gabbert''' (June 20, 1909 – December 9, 2013) was an American judge. He was associate justice of the California Courts of Appeal appointed by Governor Ronald Reagan in May 1970. Before that, he was a Superior Court judge for Riverside County, California.<ref name=ca_appellate>{{cite web|title=California Appellate Court Legacy Project – Interviewee Biography: Justice John G. Gabbert|url=http://www.courts.ca.gov/documents/Gabbert_John_G_Biography.pdf|publisher=State of California|access-date=November 25, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=De Atley|first=Richard K.|author2=Robinson, Alicia|title=Retired justice dies at 104 |pages=A1–2, A10|newspaper=The Press-Enterprise|location=Riverside, CA|date=December 11, 2013}}</ref>

==Biography==

===Early life=== Gabbert was born in Oxnard, California on June 20, 1909.<ref name=ca_appellate /> In 1912, when he was three years old, he moved with his parents to Riverside, California.<ref name=pe_10_decades>{{cite news|last=De Atley|first=Richard K.|title=10 Decades of Life and Law: Former judge and Riverside CA community leader John G. Gabbert turns 100|url=http://www.helping-others.org/articles/index.php?aid=2217|access-date=November 25, 2013|newspaper=Press-Enterprise|date=June 19, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202225050/http://www.helping-others.org/articles/index.php?aid=2217|archive-date=December 2, 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> His father, J. R. Gabbert, purchased the Riverside Enterprise newspaper and worked as both editor and publisher.<ref name=pe_10_decades /> Gabbert grew up working with the metal type in his father's print shop at the press.<ref name=pe_10_decades />

===Education=== Gabbert attended public grade schools and Poly High School in Riverside. After graduating from South Pasadena High School in 1927, he attended Riverside Junior College, where he was the Student Body President in 1929,<ref name=pe_10_decades /> and then Occidental College where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1931. He then attended Duke University School of Law from 1931 to 1932, but transferred to Boalt School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley in 1933. He completed his LL.B. at Boalt in 1934.<ref name=ca_appellate />

It was during his time at Riverside Junior College that Gabbert met fellow student Rupert Costo, a Native American activist, who became a lifelong friend and fellow advocate for the establishment of a campus of the University of California in Riverside.<ref name=la_times_1986-05-02>{{cite news|last=Sahagun|first=Louis|title=Indians Pull Up Scholarly Chair at UC Riverside|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=May 2, 1986}}</ref>

During World War II, he enlisted in the United States Army and in 1944 served with the Criminal Investigation Division in New Guinea and the Philippines.<ref>{{cite news|title=John Gordon Gabbert|newspaper=The Press-Enterprise|date=December 12, 2013|location=Riverside, CA|page=C8}}</ref>

===Legal career=== Following his graduation from Boalt Law School, Gabbert was admitted to the California Bar on October 16, 1934 and to the Philippine Islands Bar in 1945.<ref name=ca_appellate />

Gabbert served as Deputy District Attorney for Riverside County from 1935 to 1938. He next went into private practice with the father and son legal team of Best & Best in Riverside, thus forming the new firm of Best, Best & Gabbert in 1938, where he practiced law until 1943 and then from 1945 to 1949.<ref name=bbk_history>{{cite web|title=BB&K History : More than 120 years in the making of a law firm|url=http://www.bbklaw.com/?p=2076|publisher=Best, Best & Krieger|access-date=November 25, 2013}}</ref> He also served as a City Court Judge for Riverside County from 1941 to 1943.<ref name=ca_appellate /> In 1949, he was appointed by Governor Earl Warren as a Judge in the Superior Court of Riverside County, a position he held from 1949 to 1970. (It was at this time that his name was removed from the law firm that eventually became known as Best, Best, & Krieger.)<ref name=ca_appellate /> In May 1970, Governor Ronald Reagan appointed him as a Presiding Justice of the California Appellate Court, Fourth Appellate District, Division Two, a position which he held until his retirement on June 1, 1974.<ref name=ca_appellate />

===Civic involvement=== Gabbert served as a school board member for the Riverside Unified School District from 1946 to 1949.<ref name=ca_appellate /> He is a former president of the Riverside County Bar Association as well as the Lions Club, the Present Day Club, and the Citizens University Committee. He also served on a variety of civic and charitable organizations both in a membership as well as a leadership capacity and was a member of the Executive Committee of University of La Verne College of Law.<ref name=ca_appellate />

===University of California, Riverside advocacy=== In his role as President of the Citizens University Committee, Gabbert worked with Rupert Costo and other civic leaders to lobby the University of California system to establish a campus in Riverside.<ref name=ca_appellate /><ref name=la_times_1986-05-02 />

===Marriage and children=== Gabbert married Katherine Jeanette Fuller in Tulare, California on June 11, 1938. The couple had three children:<ref name=ca_appellate />

* Sarah Gabbert (June 29, 1940 – present) * Katherine Gabbert (December 24, 1942 – present) * Scott Gabbert (January 28, 1946 – present)

==Political views== Gabbert was registered as a Republican.<ref name=ca_appellate />

==Bibliography== ===Books=== * Boyce, A.M. (1987) ''Odyssey of an entomologist: adventures on the farm, at sea, and in the university'' / by Alfred M. Boyce; based on taped conversations with John G. Gabbert; edited by Elizabeth Lang and Robert Lang. Riverside, CA: UC Riverside Foundation. {{OCLC|15644827}} * Fitch, Robert J. and John G. Gabbert. (1998) ''Roman Warren: cowboy aviator.'' Riverside, CA: Riverside County Historical Commission Press. {{OCLC|38827241}}

===Audiovisual materials=== * Gabbert, John G. (2008) ''Riverside, my Riverside John G. Gabbert remembers, 1915–1925''. Riverside, CA: LIFE Society, UC Riverside Extension. DVD {{OCLC|261341170}} * Gabbert, John G. (2009) ''When all the world was young: John G. Gabbert in his 20s''. Riverside, CA: LIFE Society, UC Riverside Extension. DVD {{OCLC|462946898}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Further reading== * {{cite journal| last=Field |first=Charles D. |title=Goodbye to a Wonderful Man – Justice John G. Gabbert |journal=Riverside Lawyer |date=January 2014|page=14 |publisher=Riverside County Bar Association |volume=64 |issue=1 |oclc=33871319 |location=Riverside, CA }} * {{cite journal| last=Littleworth |first=Authur L. |title=My Memories of the Honorable John Gabbert |journal=Riverside Lawyer |date=December 2014|pages=10–12 |publisher=Riverside County Bar Association |volume=64 |issue=11 |oclc=33871319 |location=Riverside, CA }} * {{cite journal|last=Lucia|first=Katie|title=Inland Empire jurist was 'larger than life,' yet still down to earth|journal=Los Angeles Daily Journal|date=December 16, 2013|volume=126|issue=243|page=5|publisher=Daily Journal Corporation |issn=0362-5575}} * {{cite journal| last=Riemer |first=Craig G. |author2=Holmes, Dallas |author3=Ward, James |author3-link=James Ward (judge) |title=Introducing the John Gabbert Gallery"; "The Lucky Kid"; "John Gabbert – A Treasure of the Riverside Legal Community |journal=Riverside Lawyer |date=September 2006|pages=8–13 |url=https://riversidecountybar.com/Documents/Magazine-2006/Riverside-Lawyer-Magazine-volume-56-8-September-2006.pdf |publisher=Riverside County Bar Association |volume=56 |issue=8 |oclc=33871319 |location=Riverside, CA }}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gabbert, John}} Category:American men centenarians Category:California Republicans Category:Duke University School of Law alumni Category:Judges of the California Courts of Appeal Category:Lawyers from Riverside, California Category:Municipal judges in the United States Category:Occidental College alumni Category:People from Oxnard, California Category:Riverside Polytechnic High School alumni Category:United States Army soldiers Category:UC Berkeley School of Law alumni Category:Writers from Riverside, California Category:20th-century American lawyers Category:1909 births Category:2013 deaths Category:Riverside City College alumni Category:20th-century California state court judges