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d. April 12, 1992. Torrance Superior Court Judge William E. MacFaden, a 76-year resident of Redondo Beach who helped shape the South Bay’s legal and political history, has died of a heart attack. He was 79. MacFaden, who died Saturday, entered the hospital several days earlier after he suffered a mild heart attack at the Torrance courthouse, said his son-in-law, Tony Cimarusti. Although the judge retired in 1973, he returned to a full court schedule last year because of the shortage of jurists in Los Angeles County, Cimarusti said. MacFaden began using a motorized wheelchair five years ago after he broke a hip but refused to let that slow him down, Cimarusti said. “He was a great judge and an extraordinary person,” said Frank Zolin, a 30-year friend of MacFaden’s and former clerk of the Los Angeles Superior Court. “He had a rough exterior but a heart of gold, and he was extremely well-versed in the law.” A 1931 graduate of Redondo Union High School, MacFaden earned a bachelor’s degree at UCLA and a law degree at Loyola University School of Law, working as Redondo Beach’s city judge while in school. After he was admitted to the California Bar in 1936, MacFaden opened a family law practice in Redondo Beach, where he served as city attorney from 1941 to 1947. He also was Hawthorne’s city attorney from 1944 to 1946. In 1960, MacFaden became a judge in South Bay Municipal Court. Gov. Edmund G. Brown elevated him to the Superior Court bench in 1963. Over the years, he served as presiding judge of the county’s juvenile court, family law and mental health departments, and the Torrance Superior Court. During his tenure, MacFaden took a special interest in youthful offenders and supervised the implementation of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling broadening the legal rights of juvenile defendants. “I would rate him as one of the finest judges in California,” said Torrance Superior Court Judge John P. Shook, whose courtroom was next door to MacFaden’s. “It’s a tremendous loss ... to the citizens of Los Angeles County and the state.” MacFaden is survived by his wife, Maxine; two daughters, Elizabeth Cimarusti of Citrus Heights and Linda Erickson of Redondo Beach; two stepsons; a stepdaughter; six grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.

As of: Nov 19, 2019