Warren E. Slaughter

Judge Warren E. Slaughter, 90, passed away on December 1, 2007 of natural causes at his home in Newport Beach, CA. He was born on February 26, 1917 in Wayne, NE, the son of Ted and Margaret Slaughter. His family moved to California in 1933. He attended Saint Anthony's High School in Long Beach and was the center on school's first varsity football team. He then attended Loyola University and Loyola Law School, graduating in 1942. Upon graduation, he joined the U.S. Navy, serving as an air combat intelligence officer in the Pacific during World War II. On his return, he was assigned to duty in Washington D.C. where he met his future wife, Mary Catherine Shannon. Soon after their marriage, Warren and Mary moved to Palm Springs, CA where he served as City Attorney, and founded the law firm of Slaughter, Schlesinger, and Schlecht. He practiced law in Palm Springs from 1948 until 1966 when he was appointed by Governor Edmund G. Brown to the Riverside County Superior Court in Indio. He served as a judge for 17 years, retiring in 1984. In 1997, the newly founded Palm Springs-Palm Desert-Indio Chapter of the Inns of Court of America was named in his honor. He was a founding member of the Desert Bar Association and was a Knight of the Holy Sepulcher. He belonged to many other professional, religious, and social organizations, too numerous to mention. He is survived by his wife of 60 years, Mary; his four children, Noreen, Don, Sheila and Jim; his sons-in-law, Bill Donoghue and Tom Dey; his daughters-in-law, Gail and Cathie; and his grandchildren, Shannon, Ted, Scott, Maureen, Jim, Kate and Jane. His beloved grandson, Pat Donoghue having predeceased him. A rosary at 9:30 a.m. and funeral mass at 10:00 a.m. will be held at Our Lady Queen of Angels Church in Newport Beach, CA on December 7, 2007. In lieu of flowers, the family requests a donation to the Alzheimer's Foundation of America (www.alzfdn.org/contribute).