Superior Court Judge Scherer Dies at Age 54

San Diego Superior Court Judge Zalman J. Scherer died Thursday after a lengthy battle with cancer, court officials said. He was 54.

Scherer, who was a municipal judge in Vista for seven years before serving five years on the Superior Court bench, died at 7:30 a.m. at Kaiser Permanente Hospital, officials said.

“All of us loved him,” said Judith McConnell, presiding judge of the Superior Court. “He was an original character. He was an enormously hard-working judge and could handle any assignment.”

Scherer’s death leaves the 71-member Superior Court bench with two vacancies. Judge Andrew G. Wagner, a family law expert, died March 22, also after a long illness.

Scherer was appointed to the Superior Court in 1985, initially serving in Vista. He was supervising judge there in 1986 and 1987.

In 1988, he was transferred to the downtown San Diego courthouse, where he heard a wide range of civil and criminal cases.

“I’ve lost a great friend and so has this court,” said Michael I. Greer, last year’s presiding judge. “Actually, he was the heart of the court. He was much of our humanity.”

Scherer was appointed by then-Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. to the North County Municipal Court in 1978 and was elected to the post in 1982. Gov. George Deukmejian named him to the Superior Court bench.

Before taking the bench, Scherer served from 1968 to 1978 as a deputy in the San Diego County district attorney’s office. From 1963 to 1968, he practiced law in Arizona.

Scherer earned his law degree in 1962 from the University of Arizona. He graduated in 1959 from Morris Harvey College in Charleston, W. Va.

Scherer is survived by his wife, Toby; three daughters, Marlene Scherer, Michelle Scherer-Robles and Dawn Scherer; a son, Scott; and two sisters, Betty Nan Platnick of Bluefield, W.Va., and Revaline Brooks of Phoenix.

A memorial service is scheduled for today at Beth Jacob Congregation in San Diego, court officials said.