Donald W. Pike 1924-2008 Jurist Fought for Gay Rights Before It Was Popular By Noah Barron Daily Journal Staff Writer a commissioner, from 1973 to the mid-1990s. Los ANGELES - Superior . Cöurt Commissioner Donald W. Pike was a self-made millonaire, a self-taught thiner who went to law school but never college, an adventurer and a legal pioneer who broke ground on gay marriage "He was a good friend and great colleague. He left a big hole whèn he left the bench," Chernow said. Pike is survived by his wife, Juanita; his two daughters Sharon Lawrence and Victoria Pynchon; and two grandchildren. Four of his nine siblings are stil alive, Oscar, rights three decades before it was fashiönable. He died in his Los Angeles home on his 84th birthday on June 9 from complications from Parkinson's disease. Back in 1982, the Daily Journal profiled Pike, setting down in print Lois, Dorothy and Kenneth Pike. Private memorial services will be held in Pynchon's Los Angeles home. Instead of flowers, the famly asks donations be made in Pike's memory many of the stories that came to form the man: his impoverished to the Aliance for Chidren's Rights at ww.kids-allance.org. noah_barronlidailyjournal.com beginnings in Nebraska, the fifth of nine children, his family's "Grapes of Wrath"-esque exodus to California and his early jobs as a child of 14 Los working as a farm laborer. Before he was appointed commissioner to the Los Angeles County Superior Court bench, he was a Angeles County Superior Court Commissioner David W. Pike, shown in an undated photo, had a legal sensibilty that was ahead of his time, his nephew said. Reprints For Reprints, E.Prints and Frames of articles in The Daily Journal, please contact Jeremy Ells at je remye(gscooprepri ntsource.com, (800) 767.3263 Ex. 307 or online at ww.scoopreprintsource.com. milkman, an insurance' salesman, a merchant marine in World War II and a lawyer, and then in his 60s his family, Pike said, "I was terribly guilty." Pike was 35 before he earned his became a milionaire through his real estate investments. high school equivalency. When he "I am ridiculously proud of my father," Pike's daughter, Victoria Pike Pynchon, said. "He took every opportunity to improve his set out to startove( in his 30s, he visited a a psychologist whose IQ Los Angeles Dally Journal (ISSN:0362-5575) Established as a daily newspaper in 1888. test told him for the first time that he was intellgent. Offcial nêwsp~per of the City of Los Angeles and the County of Los Angeles. station in life and improve the future of his children. But he didn't accomplish these things alone. No one does." "I thought the rich were smart and the poor were dumb," he said in a 1982 interview. "He lived in fear of poverty," his Published daily except Saturdays, Sunday and New Year's Day, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Presidents' Day, Memorial Day, Independence 'Day, labor Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day by Daily Journal Corporation. 915 East First Street, Los Pike's marriage collapsed in 1962 and he moved from Los Angeles to Sacramento to start a new life. Later, presiding over domestic daughter said. Angeles, Calif., 90012. (213) 229-5300. Pêriodicals postage paid at Los Angeles, California. Adjudicated a newspaper of general Pike wasted no time, passing a college equivalency test offered by circulation, Los Angeles Superior Court No. 59775 and B-33522. Additionally adjudicated cases in Los Angeles, he would say the State Bar and then attending McGeorge School of Law by night on June 5, 1954, in Case No. 599382. SUBSCRIPTION RATES: One month $85, that his failed marriage gave him special insight into family woes. "Having had two marriages helps while delivering Dad's Root Beer by day, sending support checks three months $228, six months $403 one year $680, plus applicable sales tax. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Los Angeles Daiiy Journal, P.. Box 54026, Los Angeles, California 90054-026. me understand family law," he said home all the while. He passed the Bar Exam on his first attempt. Gary Pike, the commissioner's Filings are taken from public records as a convenience for our subscribers and republished without prejudice or liabilit. in a 1982 Daily Journal profile. Pynchon said she was deeply nephew, said that while Pike was practicing civil law, he drafted The Los Angeles Daily Journal is not responsible for errors and omissions. Under hurt. when Pike left home but reconnected with him as an adult, contracts for gay men and women becoming a lawyer herself and watching him on the bench. She that emulated the rights of married couples. no circumstances wil any matter of record be withheld from publication in this paper. This newspaper does not assume responsibilty for the views expressed in published correspondence or contributed notes or articles. Material published in the Los Angeles Daily Journal is compiled at substantial expense and is for the sole ahd exclusive use of subscribers. The material may not be republished, resold, or used in any manner, in whole or in part, without the consent of the publisher. Any infringement will be SUbject of legal redress. said he sometimes grew emotional dUring custody battles. "He would call a recess whenever The work reflected a legal sensibilty decades ahead of its time, Gary Pike said. Retired Los Angeles County he was going to burst into tears/' she said. In describing his leaving Superior Court Judge Eli Chernow worked with Pike when Pike was ~:_:.,,~.I.,