Donald Smith, Retired Judge, Dies at Age 65

Donald W. Smith, a retired San Diego County Superior Court judge who helped bring national recognition to the El Cajon Municipal Court for its reforms, died Friday morning of a heart attack in El Cajon. He was 65.

Smith, who had been suffering from cancer, was remembered by friends and family as a tough judge with a soft heart, a hard worker with a healthy sense of humor and a devoted family man. He was among a handful of El Cajon judges who became known as “the El Cajon Mafia” for their influence and attempts to improve the efficiency of the court.

Smith, who was presiding judge of the Superior Court in 1985 and 1986, was appointed to the El Cajon Municipal Court on April 10, 1962, by then-Gov. Edmund G. Brown.

Retired Superior Court Judge Alfred Lord on Friday recalled working with Smith when the two were El Cajon municipal judges. “We were conducting jury trials well into the night and hearing verdicts at midnight,” Lord said.

Along with Thomas Duffy, another municipal judge, they worked hard to streamline the administration and gain control over a court calendar that Lord described as then being “in very bad shape.”

Lord said Smith was instrumental in setting up rehabilitative programs such as an education program for drinking drivers and a drug-abuse treatment program. He also devised “trial by declaration,” a traffic hearing in which witnesses submitted statements in writing, saving police officers the time and cost of going to court.

Smith also helped push for state legislation that in 1977 made the El Cajon Municipal Court the first in the state allowed to hear Superior Court cases. Doris R. Rogers, who spent more than 10 years as Smith’s courtroom clerk, said the move--known as “The El Cajon Experiment”--saved time and took pressure off the Superior Court in downtown San Diego. “They could hear all matters except those that carried the death penalties.”

Smith was appointed to the Superior Court in 1979 by then-Gov. Jerry Brown. As presiding Superior Court judge in 1985 and ‘86, he helped identify a need for expanding the downtown Superior Court and worked to help set up the county’s first Family Court.

Judith McConnell, assistant presiding judge of the Superior Court, said Smith was a dynamic, energetic judge who was “always on the move.”

“He had a very low tolerance for incompetence and a very incisive mind,” McConnell said.

Dennis Adams, who worked with Smith on the Municipal Court and is now a Superior Court judge assigned to El Cajon, said Smith’s reputation for being tough was balanced by a soft side.

“He didn’t have a mean bone in his body. He looked like a real austere judge, but he was a pussycat. . . . He was like a rudder around here. I’m going to miss him desperately.”

Outside the court, Duffy said, Smith was a gregarious, easygoing and jovial man. “Even though his name was Smith, he was probably more Irish than I was. . . . It was appropriate that he died on St. Patrick’s Day.”

Duffy and Smith had built up one of the county’s best-regarded law practices in the 1950s and ‘60s, a firm that has changed names several times and over the years produced five judges.

Smith, a native of San Francisco, served in the Navy as a petty officer first class at the Alameda Naval Air Base during World War II, graduated from the University of San Francisco law school in 1952 and started a private law practice in El Cajon in 1956. He served as assistant city attorney for the cities of El Cajon and La Mesa and was appointed to the Municipal Court in 1962.

Smith is survived by his wife, Elizabeth; two daughters, Suzanne Grami and Sara Ramirez; four sons, Geoffrey, Matthew, Peter and John; and eight grandchildren.

The Rosary will be recited at 7 p.m. Monday at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in El Cajon. Mass will be said at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday at the church. Interment, with military honors, will be held at Holy Cross Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, friends who wish to may contribute to Nazareth House in San Diego or St. Vincent de Paul.