2000-03-14
PRESS RELEASE
March 14, 2000
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
THE HONORABLE RAYMOND L. MARSH, JUDGE OF THE SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA, COUNTY OF ALAMEDA (RETIRED)
The Honorable Raymond L. Marsh, (retired) Judge of the Superior Court of California, County of Alameda, passed away on Wednesday, March 8, 2000, at Alta Bates Hospital in Berkeley. Judge Marsh will be remembered by the Superior Court of California, County of Alameda, for his collegiality, warmth and the many significant contributions to the citizens of Alameda County during his service as a judge of the Superior and former Municipal Court.
Retired Judge Demetrios Agretelis described Judge Marsh as ‘A gentle, wise man with a sometimes dry sense of humor. It was a privilege to be his friend and colleague for so many years.’ Retired Judge Michael Ballachey said ‘My friend Ray Marsh was a man of quiet dignity, wry humor, enormous and unquestioned intellect and rare judicial courage. He was a friend and a role model and I will miss him.’
Judge Marsh, retired on October 31, 1995, as a judge of the Superior Court of California, County of Alameda after seventeen and one-half years in the Court. Since his appointment in 1978, Judge Marsh heard criminal, civil and juvenile cases. Before his retirement from the Court, he particularly enjoyed hearing a mix of both criminal and civil cases. He believed that ‘they’re both substantial areas of social concerns and the way society deals with problems, and I enjoy being a part of both.’
Prior to his elevation to the Superior Court, Judge Marsh held the office of Judge of the San Leandro-Hayward Municipal Court from September 1975 until he was elevated to Superior Court in May 1978 by Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr. After a decade on the bench, Judge Marsh considered one of his proudest moments was running the settlement calendar at Superior Court. He had fairly good success in encouraging lawyers to resolve a case short of trial. It has been commented by attorneys that Judge Marsh was a self-assured jurist who was pretty close to being the best possible kind of judge you would want to hear your case.
Prior to his service in the judicial branch of government, Judge Marsh had a private practice in Hayward, Alameda County from 1953-1975. He was a partner in the law firm of Newman, Marsh & Furtado, specializing in workers’ compensation and criminal law in San Francisco from 1952-1953.
Judge Marsh was born on September 6, 1926, in Omaha, Nebraska. He was admitted to the California Bar, on January 17, 1952, and received his LL.B. in 1951, from the University of California, Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law. He attended the University of California in Los Angeles (Westwood) from 1946-1948. He graduated in 1944 from Wentworth Military Academy, in Lexington, Missouri as a Lieutenant-Colonel, in the Cadet Corps. He served in the U.S. Army, World War II, from November 1944 to August 1946 (stateside).
A private family memorial is planned in Big Sur.
The family requests that those wishing to make a memorial contribution in honor of Judge Marsh may do so by sending it to the:
Healthy City Oakland Fund
c/o Oakland Sharing the Vision
1212 Preservation Park Way
Oakland, CA 94612
The contact for this release is Barbara J. Fox, Chief Assistant Executive Officer at 510-272-6504.