John Leslie Goddard, 76; Court Commissioner, Author
John Leslie Goddard, a veteran Superior Court commissioner and author of a definitive text on landlord-tenant law, died Tuesday in his Los Angeles home. Goddard, who remained an acting judge in the calendar division of the Los Angeles Small Claims Court even after retiring in 1977, was 76 when he died of cancer.
An Army colonel in World War II who was among the first Americans to visit Hiroshima after the dropping of the atomic bomb in 1945, Goddard helped in the postwar demobilization of Japan.
His legal career began in private practice in Los Angeles in 1933. The UCLA and USC Law School graduate was named a Superior Court commissioner in 1953. He was the author of “California Probate Court Practice,” “California Family Law Practice” and “California Landlord-Tenant Law and Procedure,” which was first published in 1937 and was re-issued five times.
Goddard’s survivors include his wife, Irene; daughters Julie Doty, Rosemary J. Thompson and Angela G. Cann; a sister and eight grandchildren.
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