Roy L. Herndon; Appellate Judge for L.A. and State
Roy L. Herndon, a retired Los Angeles and state appellate court judge, died in the California Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Palm Desert on Sunday. He was 78 and death was attributed to an “extended illness.”
Herndon graduated from the University of Oregon and began practicing law in Oregon in 1932.
He later was admitted to the Arizona and California State Bars and practiced in Los Angeles from 1936 until he was appointed Superior Court judge in 1949 by Gov. Earl Warren. He served as presiding judge of Los Angeles County Superior Court in 1956 and 1957. At 48 he was believed the youngest judge with the shortest tenure ever named to that position.
In 1958 Gov. Goodwin J. Knight named Herndon a justice of the 2nd District Court of Appeal, where he served for 15 years, writing more than 1,000 opinions. After retiring in 1973 he rejoined the law firm of Meserve, Mumper & Hughes.
Herndon is survived by his wife, Mary, two sons, a daughter and seven grandchildren.
Services and burial will be private.
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