Service Held for Retired Judge Mario L. Clinco

A funeral Mass for former Santa Monica Superior Court Judge Mario L. Clinco was held Monday at Church of the Good Shepherd, Beverly Hills.

Clinco, 71, who retired in 1984 after 20 years on the bench, died May 8 of cancer.

He was supervising judge of Santa Monica Superior Court when he retired.

A New York native, Clinco was a 1936 graduate of Fordham University Law School and began working after World War II as an attorney for the Securities and Exchange Commission in Philadelphia.

He was later transferred to Los Angeles and went into private practice until his appointment to the Los Angeles Municipal Court in 1961 by Gov. Edmund G. Brown Sr. Brown elevated him to the Superior Court in 1964.

Clinco was cited in 1974 by the county Board of Supervisors for reducing the court calendar and saving the county millions of dollars. He was selected as the 1975 Trial Judge of the Year by the Los Angeles Trial Lawyers Assn., and similarly honored in 1979 by the California Trial Lawyers Assn.

He is survived by his wife, Elizabeth, and two sons, Peter and Michael.

Donations may be sent to the Mario L. Clinco Fund at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, care of Larry Baum in the tribute department.