Orville A. Armstrong Jr.

January 21, 1929 - December 22, 2014 Former California Appellate Court Justice and State Bar President Orville A. Armstrong, Jr. passed away peacefully at home in San Marino, California on December 22. Armstrong, known widely as "Jack," was born into a family of modest means in Austin, Texas on January 21, 1929. The eldest child of Orville A. Armstrong, Sr., an electrician, and Velma Armstrong, a seamstress, he would become the first member of his family to attend and graduate from college. Armstrong finished high school in three years, then enrolled at the University of Texas. After one semester he decided to postpone his studies and enlist in the Army Air Corp. That he was just 17 and under-age seems to have deterred neither him nor the Army. He trained as a radar technician and was honorably discharged with the rank of sergeant in 1949. He then worked for a private radar company in Okinawa, Japan, instructing U.S. flight crews in ground control approach. There he met his future wife Mary Dean Macfarlane who was working as the head of civilian personnel for the military. They married in Manila. The newlyweds settled in Austin where Orville took advantage of the GI Bill to resume his undergraduate studies at the University of Texas. He graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Business degree in 1953, a year ahead of schedule. Armstrong then enrolled in Law School at USC. Selling insurance on the side to support his growing family, he made the Board of Editors of the Law Review and earned his LLB in 1956. After graduation Armstrong joined the Los Angeles law firm of Gray, Binkley, and Pfaelzer, headed by William P. Gray, who was then president of the State Bar of California. In 1967 Armstrong formed his own firm Armstrong & Lloyd. In 1975 he joined the firm of Macdonald, Halsted & Laybourne as the head of its litigation department. After the firm merged with the international firm Baker & McKenzie in 1988, Armstrong headed the litigation department in L.A. and served on the Policy Committee. In 1987 Armstrong was elected President of the State Bar of California. He also served four years on the State Bar's Board of Governors. For the Los Angeles County Bar Association he chaired the Economic Litigation Committee and served a term on the Board of Trustees. He was a delegate to the Judicial Conference of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, a Director of the Ninth Circuit Historical Society, a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation, President of the Chancery Club, and a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. During his 35-year career as an attorney, Armstrong argued cases before the Supreme Court of California and before the Federal Court of Appeals. He was listed as one of the best business litigation lawyers in the 1989-1990 edition of Naifeh and White's "The Best Lawyers in America." In 1991 Governor Deukmejian appointed Armstrong to the bench of the Los Angeles Superior Court. Armstrong would later observe that the experiences he had as a Juvenile Court judge were some of the most rewarding of his life. Governor Wilson appointed Armstrong as an associate justice for the California Court of Appeal in 1993. He served for 20 years in Division Five of the Second Appellate District, retiring in 2013. During his tenure he twice acted as Justice Pro Tempore for the California Supreme Court. His reputation was that of a fair and unprejudiced judge. Jack Armstrong was also something of an athlete. Word has it he was invited for a tryout with the St. Louis Cardinals as a pitcher in his teens, and there is a rumor that he once enjoyed a seven handicap. Armstrong was preceded in death by Mary Dean, his loving wife of 60 years. He is survived by his children Louise Armstrong Glenn, John Armstrong, and Jeff Armstrong, their spouses, eight grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.