Russell Callison

1954 - 2020

Russell J. Callison, ESQ.

Russell James Callison, a longtime North State Lawyer, has died in San Francisco at the age of 65 after a lengthy illness.
A lifetime resident of the North State, Mr. Callison was born on September 4, 1954, in Redding, CA to Walter M. and Norma A. Callison. Mr. Callison was descended from a pioneering California family with roots in pre-Revolutionary War Virginia. Mr. Callison was raised on the historic Callison Ranch established in Fall River Mills, Shasta County, in 1866. Russell attended local schools, was a Boy Scout, and graduated from Fall River High School in 1973. He served as senior class president. Russell was a member of the school's parliamentary procurement team which was awarded first place in a regional tournament at Chico State University in 1973, and Mr. Callison received the trophy for the best team president.
Mr. Callison attended the University of the Pacific in Stockton, where he studied Political Science and English, and graduated with his Bachelor of Arts in 1977. Mr. Callison attended University of the Pacific – McGeorge Law School and graduated with his Juris Doctor cum laude in 1980, and was awarded Order of the Coif (National Honor Society). Mr. Callison received a Stauffer Research Fellowship and was a member of the Phi Alpha Delta Law Fraternity. While at UOP, Russell cultivated many friendships which he would carry throughout his life.
After passing the California State Bar, Mr. Callison became an Associate at Memering and Demers in Sacramento. The Memering firm specialized in business and civil litigation, and Mr. Callison focused on mass tort and products liability. In 1985, Mr. Callison joined his senior partner Louis A. Demers at the new firm, Demers and Tallant, which subsequently became Demers, Callison and Donovan. In 1995, Mr. Callison became a partner at the national firm of Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard and Smith LLP in its San Francisco office.
Mr. Callison litigated hundreds of cases to settlements and verdicts in civil cases covering everything from personal injury, products liability, insurance disputes, and professional negligence including doctors, hospitals, nurses, architects, engineers, stockbrokers, developers and contractors.
In addition to the California State Bar, Mr. Callison was admitted to practice before the United States District Courts (Eastern and Northern districts), and the United States Court of Appeals (9th Circuit). Mr. Callison was a member of the American Bar Association, the American Arbitration (panel of arbitrators), and the Association of Defense Counsel of Northern California. Mr. Callison was rated AV Preeminent®, the highest peer rating by Martindale-Hubbell, the distinguished information services company to the U.S. Legal profession. Mr. Callison was honored with publication of his biography in Who's Who in American Law (5th through 7th ed.), and Who's Who in California (15th and 19th ed.). Mr. Callison was co-author of "Premises Liability in California" (1996).
Mr. Callison was a member of the Sons of the American Revolution (Chapter President 1992-1993). Russell's pioneer bona fides follow.
Russell's great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather James Callison immigrated from Ireland to America around 1763, settling in Albemarle County, Virginia; James acquired land and became a farmer. James Callison was a Patriot of the Revolutionary War (circa 1775).
James Callison's great, great grandson, Gilmore Callison, and his Illinois family, started their pioneer journey west of the Oregon Trail on April 6, 1852. A detailed diary of the journey may be found at the Lane County Historical Museum in Eugene, Oregon.
In the spring of 1866, Gilmore Callison's son, William Thomas Callison, rode south from the Willamette Valley, Oregon, to explore the beautiful and remote Fall River Valley in Northern California's Shasta County. Impressed by what he saw, William returned to Oregon to pack up his family, two wagons, and 20 head of cattle to start the journey to Fall River.
The Callison family arrived in the Fall River Valley in early October 1866 and found a temporary house within the grounds of the Fort Crook Military Garrison. The following spring, William Callison acquired 160 acres of fine land on the banks of Fall River, two miles from Fort Crook.
William Callison's son, Logan Callison married Katherine Philura Brown in 1883. A few years later, they purchased 480 acres on Fall River known as the Estep Place. Logan Callison continued to ranch until his death in 1922. Logan Callison's eldest son, Frank Merton Callison, then acquired the Callison Ranch, and subsequently purchased adjacent properties until the ranch was over 3,000 acres in size and ran over 500 head of Hereford cattle. In addition to overseeing operation of the ranch, Frank Merton Callison was appointed Justice of the Fall River Township by the Shasta County Board of Supervisors in 1924, and he was subsequently re-elected Judge many times; he retired in the mid-1950's. Judge Callison's son, Walter, father of Russell Callison, was born on the ranch in 1919, and became an active partner in the Callison Ranch upon his 1944 marriage to Norma Bruce.
As noted above, Mr. Callison joined the family in 1954. The great heroes of his life were Theodore Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and especially his great-uncle, Dr. Ferd Walter Callison.
Dr. Ferd Callison graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons in San Francisco in 1918. Successful in medical practice, Dr. Callison also founded a life insurance company in the early 1920's and sold it at great profit before the stock market crash in October 1929. In the decades that followed, Dr. Callison became a mogul in business, real estate, and medicine.
In March 1960, Russell Callison was severely injured in an accident on the Callison Ranch. At Dr. Callison's insistence, Russell was transported to the Polyclinic Hospital in San Francisco, at which Dr. Callison was President and Owner. Dr. Callison managed Russell's treatment and brought in specialists who operated dozens of times during the first six months. Russell returned home briefly in late 1960 but had multiple surgeries at the Polyclinic over the next year, and also occasionally thereafter until his high school years. Dr. Callison was a role model for Russell and his great-uncle's death in 1969 was crushing and painful.
Russell lost his courageous 10-year battle with colon cancer on March 7, 2020. About that, he would have said "Life's struggles do not define us, they refine us."
Mr. Callison was pre-deceased by his parents, Walter and Norma Callison. He is survived by his brothers, Robert and Richard of Fall River Mills, his sister, Marilyn Callison Bailey of Cottonwood, and his nieces and nephews: Becky and Logan Callison; Stacey, Jamie and Jason Bailey; Austin and Dallas Callison. Also leaving behind 3 great nieces and 3 great nephews.
Russell Callison is also survived by his dear best friend of 20 years and travel companion in better times, Angel Arbleo. During Russell's slow decline in health, Angel was his faithful caregiver.
After beginning his professional career, Mr. Callison was only able to return to Fall River on occasional holidays. Although it is there that he will be laid to final rest.