Max Gest

1945 - 2022

February 6, 1945 - March 25, 2022 Max Gest died on Friday, March 25 in Los Angeles at 77 years old. Once a refugee, he was a case study of "the American Dream."

Mr. Gest was born in Lodz, Poland in 1945 to Jewish parents who returned to Eastern Europe after taking refuge in the Soviet Union during the Second World War. In the context of postwar, anti-Semitic violence in Poland, his family fled to an American-run displaced persons camp in Stuttgart, Germany. In 1949, he and his family arrived on New York City's Ellis Island by boat.

With neither money nor English, his parents settled in a tenement in the South Bronx, and later on a chicken farm in Vineland, New Jersey, before moving to Los Angeles in 1961. Leveraging America's meritocracy and hard work, he earned a bachelor's degree from Cal State LA in 1966, a law degree from Loyola Law School in 1969, and embarked on a law career.

After practicing military law, family law, and personal injury law for two decades, Mr. Gest came to distinguish himself in the field of federal workers' compensation. Across the subsequent three decades, Mr. Gest assisted thousands of federal government employees - from letter carriers to high-level bureaucrats, from nurses to secret service agents - with claims for medical care after work-related injuries and illnesses from his Los Angeles-based practice.

Over time, Mr. Gest's expertise attracted national recognition. For a number of years, he was the chairman of the Office of Workers' Compensation Programs Litigation Group, now the Federal Employees' Compensation Act Law & Advocacy Group. He authored numerous articles and delivered lectures on his specialty to various audiences across the United States and Canada. Through it all, there was a sense of duty to his clients, in whose struggles and aspirations he saw his own.

More than an attorney, Mr. Gest was an Eagle Scout, an avid tennis and racquetball player, and a bookworm. He spent hours upon hours reading popular fiction in the solace of his verdant garden or overlooking valleys and oceans when on holiday. He was also an amateur magician who loved to thrill children with shows involving disappearing rabbits and coins.

Perhaps his greatest trick was to prioritize his family throughout his life. Mr. Gest was a beloved husband, father, father-in-law, grandfather, and a friend to many. Born into a world of change, he was a force of stability and integrity - a force for good.

The family requests those who wish to express sympathy to consider making a donation to World Central Kitchen (https://www.wck.org) or the American Immigration Council (https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org).