Michael Molland

Michael Molland, 77, passed away on November 16 at his home of 28 years in Petaluma, California. He is survived by his wife, Barbara; his three children, Maria, Jacob and Benjamin; and seven grandchildren, Lucas, Julia, Inga, Cillian, Dashiell, Kai, and Lachlan. Michael also leaves his sister, Kaaren Northwood, as well as numerous extended family, nieces, nephews, friends, and former work colleagues. Michael is remembered for his sense of purpose and strongly held values, his intelligence and endless reserves of energy, and, perhaps most of all, his devotion and fierce commitment to his wife and children.

Born to Earl and Marjorie Molland in Chippewa Falls, WI, Michael attended Chippewa Falls High School. During his freshman year at Chippewa High, Michael first met his future wife, Barbara Lawler. They would go on to share the next 60 plus years of their life together, 51 of them as husband and wife.

Michael graduated as valedictorian from Chippewa High in 1966, thereafter attending Carleton College and the University of California, Berkeley, where he ultimately graduated cum laude with a degree in English literature. Michael, like many young people during the '60s and '70s, was embroiled in the socio-political turmoil and uncertainty of the time, but always found himself grounded in the context of his relationship with his partner, Barbara. They married in 1973, in a small ceremony in Polson, Montana. A year later, they welcomed their first child, Maria.

Michael and Barbara moved to and established a life for themselves and their growing family in the foothills of the California Sierra Nevada, where Michael built a home, worked as a full-time special education teacher and put himself through law school at night. It was also during this period that Michael and Barbara had two more children, Jacob and Benjamin. Though often occupied with the many different projects of co-managing a young family, Michael always remembered this time in the foothills as an idyllic experience, full of inspiration and meaning.

After earning his J.D. in 1983, Michael and family moved to Marin County, California, where he and Barbara made their home and raised their children for more than a decade. Though busy and engaged with his profession as a lawyer, Michael always found time for adventures and experiences with his family, whether that was backpacking trips to the Sierra Nevada, summer vacations in Wisconsin, or attending the innumerable athletic events of his children. In 1997, after their youngest child had been successfully launched to college, Michael and Barbara acquired and moved to a large ranch property in Sonoma County, where they spent the next 28 years of their life. It was here that Michael and Barbara almost single-handedly maintained a 230 acre horse ranch, at times with more than 45 horses on the property. Michael was an advocate for and a careful steward of the natural world and community around him, a passion and interest which was felt deeply by those who bore witness to his personal and professional efforts. Michael was curious about and well versed in a variety of topics and intellectual pursuits, and often expressed these interests in his own writings and poetry.

Michael was a licensed attorney at law for 41 years, beginning his long career as an attorney at law in 1983 at the San Francisco law firm Brobeck, Phleger and Harrison; in later years at Morgan, Lewis, and Bockius. He was a prodigiously talented trial lawyer who was earnestly committed and passionate about environmental and elder law and product liability cases. He leaves behind a host of colleagues and clients who are well acquainted with his strongly held convictions regarding protecting those aspects of our world – whether human or not – that are most vulnerable to injury or maltreatment.

Michael will be missed tremendously by many but will also be remembered forever for his strength, vitality, and devotion to those he loved and cherished.