Max Gutierrez Jr.

1930 - 2025

Max Gutierrez Jr.
05/26/1930 - 09/17/2025
Max Gutierrez, Jr., a titan of the legal profession for over 50 years, passed away peacefully in his sleep on September 17, 2025, after a life well lived.
Max was born in El Salvador on May 26, 1930, and immigrated with his family to San Francisco shortly thereafter. Growing up, Max worked in his parents clothing factory, before heading to UC Berkeley for his undergraduate studies. At Berkeley, Max studied for a career in medicine and became a collegiate boxing champion. Max often remembered with fondness the Pappy Waldorf years at Cal, when he was the yell leader exhorting a bawdy group of vets freshly returned from the war.
After serving at Fort Ord during the Korean war, Max's career aspirations changed to the legal profession. He enrolled at the University of San Francisco School of Law, where he was an integral part of the famed class of 1959. At USF, Max forged some of his most cherished lifelong friendships. It was also when he met Juanita, his beloved wife of 58 years, and mother of their six children.
Max's aspiration to become the first minority to break into the partner ranks of a major San Francisco law firm drove him to excel. He earned his LLM in Tax from Georgetown University, and in 1960 he returned to San Francisco to join Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison, where he led an initiative to transform their personal wealth practice. To this end, Max was a driving force behind California's enactment of its "no fault" divorce laws, which allowed him to focus his practice on the financial and tax aspects of Family Law and Estate Planning. For decades, Max was a senior partner at Brobeck, and subsequently, Morgan Lewis. Along the way, Max rose to the top of every professional organization and became a trusted advisor to a broad range of clients, from industry leaders, to politicians and to rock and sports stars, all of whom greatly appreciated and relied upon his sage counsel in all matters.
Aside from his family, Max was perhaps most proud of his role in founding (with other preeminent international estate-planning attorneys) and leading the prestigious International Academy of Estate and Trust Law to address the increasingly complex, multi-national estates of his clients. Max very much appreciated and enjoyed the friendship of his colleagues in the Academy, with whom he and Juanita frequently vacationed around the world.
Despite forging a remarkable career in the law, Max had boundless energy outside of his practice. From painting, to teaching himself to play the guitar, to earning his 3rd Degree Black Belt in karate (and training his grandchildren), to coaching his sons' sports teams, to his annual river rafting trips and to his passion for snow skiing and, later, fly fishing, Max filled every waking moment of his life with purpose. People were often shocked to see Max was still able to do finger-tip pushups well into his 70's. Max defined the terms "work hard, play hard."
Max finally decided to step away from his law practice at the age of 81 to spend more time with his wife, children and his growing brood of grandchildren, which his entire family greatly appreciated. In anticipation of this transition in his life, Max became a Knight of the Order of Malta and joined Juanita on many trips assisting the disabled and infirmed in their pilgrimages to Lourdes, France. It was a period of great spiritual fulfillment for Max.
With Juanita by his side, there was no burden too great for Max to bear, no challenge too daunting for Max to overcome (except golf – it bedeviled him!). He truly was one of a kind, who impacted the lives of so many. He will be dearly missed by all.
Max was predeceased by his wife, Juanita, his parents, Max Sr. and Elva, and his sister, Estella. Max is survived by his children Michele, Michael, Paul, Bill, Laurelle and Max (III) and their spouses Carol, Joana, Lena and Carolyn, his grandchildren, Laurelle Marie, Ivan, Markus, Nik, Ian, Katie, Maya, Alexandra, Joseph, Jake, Gabrielle, Max (IV), Miles, Mazie, and his great grandchildren, Penny, Ivy and the newest addition, Lila.
Donations in Max's honor can be made to the Lucile Packard Foundation (https://lpfch.org/donate/) or the Order of Malta (https://orderofmaltawestern.us/donate/).