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Alfred E. Paonessa, 89; Retired Judge

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Retired Superior Court judge and county planning commissioner Alfred E. Paonessa--one of the youngest judges in Los Angeles history when he was appointed to the bench in 1931--is dead.

Paonessa, who began to practice law here in 1925, was 89 when he died Dec. 28 at his home in Encino, his family announced last week.

Paonessa was a son of poor Italian immigrants and the first of his family born an American citizen. He studied medicine in Washington before moving to Los Angeles and working as a teller for the Bank of Italy, forerunner of Bank of America.

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He studied law at night at Southwestern University and six years after opening his practice was named to the Municipal Court bench by Gov. James Rolph.

Ten years later--in 1941--Gov. Culbert L. Olson put him on the Superior Court.

He served at both the old and new County Courthouses and in Burbank, Glendale and San Fernando before retiring in 1963.

In 1967, County Supervisor Warren M. Dorn appointed him to the County Regional Planning Commission, where he was a strong advocate of property owners’ rights. He retired from that post in 1972 but continued to fill in for vacationing judges and act periodically as a federal mediator.

His survivors include two daughters, three grandchildren, a brother and three sisters.

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