The Honorable Donald E. Smallwood (Ret.)
July 14, 1928 -November 12th, 2009
A longtime resident of Orange County, CA, Judge Smallwood is survived by his wife Susan; children Cheryl Cohen, Tom (Lori), Mark (Taffy), and David, grandchildren Matthew, Marissa, and Travis, sister Jeanne Nuechterlein of Ft. Wayne, IN, and brother Stephen (Lois) Smallwood of Sunnyvale, CA. Don is also survived by his father-in-law David Nazaroff, brother- and sister-in-law Mike and Onya Tolmasoff, as well as many beloved nieces and nephews, and many dear friends in Orange County and Las Vegas. Don was preceded in death by his sister Betty MacKenzie.
Don worked as an office clerk days while attending Southwestern Law School at night, earning his J.D., magna cum laude. In 1962 he passed the California State Bar and opened his private practice in Costa Mesa.
After building and operating a successful and respected law practice for more than 20 years, Don was appointed to the Orange County Superior Court by Governor George Deukmejian in 1984. He was elected and served as Presiding Judge of the Orange County Superior Court in 1992 and 1993. Don also wrote opinions for the State Court of Appeals, pro tem. After retiring from the bench in 1997, Don worked as a private arbitration and mediation judge until 2004. During his tenure on the bench, Don served as the Chairman of the Civil Law and Procedure Committee of the California Judges Association, and he founded the Orange County Family Violence Coordinating Council. In 1996, Don was named Judge of the Year by the Orange County Women Lawyers Association (OCWLA), and in 1997, the Orange County Bar Association presented Don with the Harmon G. Scoville Award for judicial excellence.
To Don, individual public service was integral to nurturing and preserving a democratic society. He was an elected member of the Newport-Mesa Unified School District Board of Trustees for 8 years and was president of that Board for 2 years. In the 1960s, Don was president of the Mesa Verde Homeowner's Association, and coached Harbor area little league teams. He was deeply involved with and was later president of the board of South Coast Repertory, chairman of the Orange County Family Violence Coordinating Council, and was a board member of Get Involved for Mental Health, a fundraising non-profit founded and operated by his wife, Susan Smallwood, from 2001 to 2004. Over the years, Don served as a board member for the Y.M.C.A. of Newport Beach, the Mardan Foundation, and was briefly on the board of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at UNLV.
Don loved good books, good food, and good conversation. He was a consummate storyteller, and could always be counted on to recall a humorous story, joke, or limerick, embellished with his unique sense of humor and a twinkle in his eye. We will miss his great wit, his humanity, sense of justice, and his love of life and family.
A public celebration of Judge Smallwood's life will be held at the Orange County Courthouse, Department 1, 700 Civic Center Drive West, Santa Ana, CA 92701, on Friday, November 20th, 2009, from 3:15 p.m.
Contact information: msmallwood9@gmail.com.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Lymphoma Research Foundation (http://www.lymphoma.org), 115 Broadway, 13th Floor, New York, NY 10006, (212) 349-2910, (800) 235-6848.
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