John Molinari, 94; Former Justice of State Appellate Court
John B. Molinari, 94, a former justice of the state Court of Appeal, died Monday after a brief illness at his home in San Francisco.
The cause of death was not announced.
A native of San Francisco, Molinari graduated from the University of San Francisco and earned his law degree there.
He practiced law in the city’s North Beach area and served as a deputy district attorney during World War II. He was appointed a Municipal Court judge in 1947 by Gov. Earl Warren.
Five years later, he was elected to the city’s Superior Court. He served in that post until appointed to the state Court of Appeal in 1962 by Gov. Pat Brown.
As an appellate court justice, Molinari was a strong advocate of mental healthcare in the face of drastic cuts in state funding under Gov. Ronald Reagan.
Molinari retired from the bench in 1977 and worked again as a private attorney, specializing in probate and estate law. He retired in 1995.
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