Retired Municipal Judge Dies

Retired Municipal Court Judge John A. H. Sturgeon, who served in Monrovia for 41 years, has died at the age of 93.

Sturgeon died Monday at Westminster Gardens, a nursing home in Duarte.

Sturgeon had battled cancer for more than a year, said his son, John Alexander Sturgeon, a Los Angeles attorney.

The retired judge was born Sept. 28, 1897, in Manitoba, Canada. Until he was hospitalized about 18 months ago, he lived in the same house his father had built in 1913, a year after the family moved to Monrovia. “He always had everybody’s respect,” his son said. “He was an understanding and generous person. Everyone admired him.”

A 1916 graduate of Monrovia High School, Sturgeon attended law school for one year at Stanford University and one year at USC.

He passed the California bar examination in 1922. Two years later, he formed a law partnership.

In 1925, he was appointed city judge of Monrovia and was also elected justice of the peace of a now-defunct judicial area in the San Gabriel Valley.

When the Santa Anita Judicial District was formed in Monrovia in 1952, Sturgeon was elected to the one-judge municipal court, where he served until he retired in 1966. He continued to serve in various community organizations, such as the Monrovia Elks Lodge, American Legion and Monrovia Rotary Club.

Other survivors include his wife of 56 years, Mary; a daughter, Suzanne Anton, and five grandchildren.

Services will be at 2 p.m. Friday at First Presbyterian Church of Monrovia. A private burial ceremony will follow at Live Oak Memorial Park in Monrovia.