David Louis Martin

David Louis MARTIN David Louis Martin - beloved father, husband, friend, and prominent Seattle trial lawyer - passed away peacefully at home on Wednesday, January 11th, 2012 after an 11-month battle with kidney cancer. He was 69. David was born May 13, 1942 in Ogallala, Nebraska, the youngest of three children born to Theodore and Mary Jane Martin. When he was five years old, the Martins moved to Quincy, in Grant County, Washington, where his father ran a dairy farm. On the dairy farm, Dave learned the meaning of unrelenting and hard work; an ethic he perfected over his long career. In 1960 he graduated from Quincy High School, where he was a star athlete and valedictorian of his senior class. Dave graduated from Washington State University 1964. That fall, he began Law School at the University of Washington. He passed the bar in 1967 and worked briefly at the Washington State Attorney General's Office before being drafted into the United States Army in 1968. While posted to Ft. Myer, Virginia as a member of the U.S. Army Military Police, Dave attended George Washington University Law School and obtained a master's degree in labor law. He also met his future wife, Janet Kudela. In late 1970, after marrying Janet, Dave returned to the Seattle area to settle down. After a brief stint as a partner in a personal-injury plaintiff's firm, Dave decided that his destiny lay elsewhere and he joined the firm of Lee Smart in 1972. Over the next few years, Dave's drive, vision, and accomplishments in the courtroom pushed Lee Smart to the forefront of the insurance-defense practice in the Pacific Northwest. Dave remained the driving force and defining personality of the firm for the rest of his life. During his tenure at Lee Smart he tried more than 100 cases to verdict against the best lawyers in the Northwest. Dave was listed in America's Best Lawyers from its first edition to the present. Early in his career, Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory awarded him its highest "AV" rating. Dave has been listed as a Superlawyer since the inception of that ranking in Washington State. In the free time he allowed himself, he enjoyed time atthe family cabin on Camano Island, as well as breeding, training and racing thoroughbreds in Washington, Oregon and California. He was always up for a game of blackjack. Dave was deeply loved and respected by family, friends, his partners, associates and colleagues (despite his sometimes irascible personality) because of his integrity and humanity. He was preceded in death by his parents Theodore and Mary Jane, his brother Theodore and his first wife Janet. He leaves behind his two children Andrew and Jennifer, sister Genevieve, second wife Leigh Ann and many extended family, work family, and friends who will miss his guidance, his stories and his propensity to suddenly break out into song. A funeral Mass will be held at St. Luke Catholic Church, 322 North 175th Street, Shoreline, WA on Thursday, January 19th at 11 a.m. Reception to follow. In lieu of flowers, remembrances may be made in memory of David L. Martin to the Swedish Cancer Institute, c/o Swedish Medical Center Foundation, 747 Broadway, Seattle, WA 98122. Please see and sign Dave's on line guest book at www.legacy.com.