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.
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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
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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
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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,
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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.
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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
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