Howard H. Jewel, former assistant state attorney general, ACLU official and well-known civil rights attorney who practiced labor law in the East Bay for many years, died July 28 of congestive heart failure at John Muir Hospital in Walnut Creek. he was 75.
The son of a physician, Mr. Jewel was born in Iowa City, Iowa, and grew u in Napa, where he attended Napa High School. He graduated from the University of California at Berkeley and earned his law degree at UC's Boalt Hall School of Law in 1950.
He immediately joined the Alameda County public defender's office as an assistant public defender.
A liberal Democrat and supporter of numerous left-leaning causes and candidates, he ran for political office once-in 1958-when he was narrowly defeated in a bid for Congress from Contra Costa County by the Republican incumbent, John F. Baldwin Jr.
Shortly after the election, Mr. Jewel was named deputy director of the state Department of Justice by Stanley Mosk, the then attorney general-elect and later a Supreme Court justice.
After a two-year stint with the fraud unit in San Francisco, he was promoted to chief of the department's constitutional rights unit.
In his capacity as assistant attorney general, Mr. jewel occasionally tangled with the John Birch Society and vehemently disputed the views of its founder, Robert Welch, while vigorously defending Welch's right to express them.
Mr. Jewel argued that it was not the business of the attorney general's office to review political beliefs and give them seals of approval or disapproval.
"If the day ever comes when democracy fears to take on all corners in the field of competing ideas," he declared, "Then democracy will already have died."
In 1962, Mr. Jewel and Nancy Myer Strawbridge, Justice Mosk's executive secretary, were married in Copenhagen.
Six years later, Mr. Jewel left the attorney general's office to enter private practice, joining the Oakland firm of Neyhart and Grodin.
A year later, he was elected chairman of the Northern California chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. It was Mr. Jewel who was credited with coining the phrase "little old ladies in tennis' shoes from Pasadena" in a report on the John Birch Society.
He remained at the helm of the ACLU until 1981, when he retired and moved to Guatemala. He frequently returned to California, often for months at a time, to visit family and friends.
Mr. Jewel is survived by four daughters, Elisabeth Jewel of Oakland, Sarah Jewel of Winters, Anne Jewel of Columbus, Ohio, and Daphne Stewart of Bainbridge Island, Washington; one son, Roger Strawbridge of Sebastopol; his brother, Philip Jewel of Fremont; and seven grandchildren.
A private memorial is being planned. The family suggests that contributions in his honor be made to the ACLU of Northern California, 1663 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94103, or Americans for Death with Dignity, P.O. box 1101, Glendale, CA 91227
(Obituary from the "Winters Express," Thursday, August, 12, 1999, (Yolo County). Submitted with the permission of the "Winters Express," 312 Railroad Ave., Winters, CA 95694.)
The son of a physician, Mr. Jewel was born in Iowa City, Iowa, and grew u in Napa, where he attended Napa High School. He graduated from the University of California at Berkeley and earned his law degree at UC's Boalt Hall School of Law in 1950.
He immediately joined the Alameda County public defender's office as an assistant public defender.
A liberal Democrat and supporter of numerous left-leaning causes and candidates, he ran for political office once-in 1958-when he was narrowly defeated in a bid for Congress from Contra Costa County by the Republican incumbent, John F. Baldwin Jr.
Shortly after the election, Mr. Jewel was named deputy director of the state Department of Justice by Stanley Mosk, the then attorney general-elect and later a Supreme Court justice.
After a two-year stint with the fraud unit in San Francisco, he was promoted to chief of the department's constitutional rights unit.
In his capacity as assistant attorney general, Mr. jewel occasionally tangled with the John Birch Society and vehemently disputed the views of its founder, Robert Welch, while vigorously defending Welch's right to express them.
Mr. Jewel argued that it was not the business of the attorney general's office to review political beliefs and give them seals of approval or disapproval.
"If the day ever comes when democracy fears to take on all corners in the field of competing ideas," he declared, "Then democracy will already have died."
In 1962, Mr. Jewel and Nancy Myer Strawbridge, Justice Mosk's executive secretary, were married in Copenhagen.
Six years later, Mr. Jewel left the attorney general's office to enter private practice, joining the Oakland firm of Neyhart and Grodin.
A year later, he was elected chairman of the Northern California chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. It was Mr. Jewel who was credited with coining the phrase "little old ladies in tennis' shoes from Pasadena" in a report on the John Birch Society.
He remained at the helm of the ACLU until 1981, when he retired and moved to Guatemala. He frequently returned to California, often for months at a time, to visit family and friends.
Mr. Jewel is survived by four daughters, Elisabeth Jewel of Oakland, Sarah Jewel of Winters, Anne Jewel of Columbus, Ohio, and Daphne Stewart of Bainbridge Island, Washington; one son, Roger Strawbridge of Sebastopol; his brother, Philip Jewel of Fremont; and seven grandchildren.
A private memorial is being planned. The family suggests that contributions in his honor be made to the ACLU of Northern California, 1663 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94103, or Americans for Death with Dignity, P.O. box 1101, Glendale, CA 91227
(Obituary from the "Winters Express," Thursday, August, 12, 1999, (Yolo County). Submitted with the permission of the "Winters Express," 312 Railroad Ave., Winters, CA 95694.)
Howard H. Jewel, former assistant state attorney general, ACLU official and well-known civil rights attorney who practiced labor law in the East Bay for many years, died July 28 of congestive heart failure at John Muir Hospital in Walnut Creek. he was 75.
The son of a physician, Mr. Jewel was born in Iowa City, Iowa, and grew u in Napa, where he attended Napa High School. He graduated from the University of California at Berkeley and earned his law degree at UC's Boalt Hall School of Law in 1950.
He immediately joined the Alameda County public defender's office as an assistant public defender.
A liberal Democrat and supporter of numerous left-leaning causes and candidates, he ran for political office once-in 1958-when he was narrowly defeated in a bid for Congress from Contra Costa County by the Republican incumbent, John F. Baldwin Jr.
Shortly after the election, Mr. Jewel was named deputy director of the state Department of Justice by Stanley Mosk, the then attorney general-elect and later a Supreme Court justice.
After a two-year stint with the fraud unit in San Francisco, he was promoted to chief of the department's constitutional rights unit.
In his capacity as assistant attorney general, Mr. jewel occasionally tangled with the John Birch Society and vehemently disputed the views of its founder, Robert Welch, while vigorously defending Welch's right to express them.
Mr. Jewel argued that it was not the business of the attorney general's office to review political beliefs and give them seals of approval or disapproval.
"If the day ever comes when democracy fears to take on all corners in the field of competing ideas," he declared, "Then democracy will already have died."
In 1962, Mr. Jewel and Nancy Myer Strawbridge, Justice Mosk's executive secretary, were married in Copenhagen.
Six years later, Mr. Jewel left the attorney general's office to enter private practice, joining the Oakland firm of Neyhart and Grodin.
A year later, he was elected chairman of the Northern California chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. It was Mr. Jewel who was credited with coining the phrase "little old ladies in tennis' shoes from Pasadena" in a report on the John Birch Society.
He remained at the helm of the ACLU until 1981, when he retired and moved to Guatemala. He frequently returned to California, often for months at a time, to visit family and friends.
Mr. Jewel is survived by four daughters, Elisabeth Jewel of Oakland, Sarah Jewel of Winters, Anne Jewel of Columbus, Ohio, and Daphne Stewart of Bainbridge Island, Washington; one son, Roger Strawbridge of Sebastopol; his brother, Philip Jewel of Fremont; and seven grandchildren.
A private memorial is being planned. The family suggests that contributions in his honor be made to the ACLU of Northern California, 1663 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94103, or Americans for Death with Dignity, P.O. box 1101, Glendale, CA 91227
(Obituary from the "Winters Express," Thursday, August, 12, 1999, (Yolo County). Submitted with the permission of the "Winters Express," 312 Railroad Ave., Winters, CA 95694.)
The son of a physician, Mr. Jewel was born in Iowa City, Iowa, and grew u in Napa, where he attended Napa High School. He graduated from the University of California at Berkeley and earned his law degree at UC's Boalt Hall School of Law in 1950.
He immediately joined the Alameda County public defender's office as an assistant public defender.
A liberal Democrat and supporter of numerous left-leaning causes and candidates, he ran for political office once-in 1958-when he was narrowly defeated in a bid for Congress from Contra Costa County by the Republican incumbent, John F. Baldwin Jr.
Shortly after the election, Mr. Jewel was named deputy director of the state Department of Justice by Stanley Mosk, the then attorney general-elect and later a Supreme Court justice.
After a two-year stint with the fraud unit in San Francisco, he was promoted to chief of the department's constitutional rights unit.
In his capacity as assistant attorney general, Mr. jewel occasionally tangled with the John Birch Society and vehemently disputed the views of its founder, Robert Welch, while vigorously defending Welch's right to express them.
Mr. Jewel argued that it was not the business of the attorney general's office to review political beliefs and give them seals of approval or disapproval.
"If the day ever comes when democracy fears to take on all corners in the field of competing ideas," he declared, "Then democracy will already have died."
In 1962, Mr. Jewel and Nancy Myer Strawbridge, Justice Mosk's executive secretary, were married in Copenhagen.
Six years later, Mr. Jewel left the attorney general's office to enter private practice, joining the Oakland firm of Neyhart and Grodin.
A year later, he was elected chairman of the Northern California chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. It was Mr. Jewel who was credited with coining the phrase "little old ladies in tennis' shoes from Pasadena" in a report on the John Birch Society.
He remained at the helm of the ACLU until 1981, when he retired and moved to Guatemala. He frequently returned to California, often for months at a time, to visit family and friends.
Mr. Jewel is survived by four daughters, Elisabeth Jewel of Oakland, Sarah Jewel of Winters, Anne Jewel of Columbus, Ohio, and Daphne Stewart of Bainbridge Island, Washington; one son, Roger Strawbridge of Sebastopol; his brother, Philip Jewel of Fremont; and seven grandchildren.
A private memorial is being planned. The family suggests that contributions in his honor be made to the ACLU of Northern California, 1663 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94103, or Americans for Death with Dignity, P.O. box 1101, Glendale, CA 91227
(Obituary from the "Winters Express," Thursday, August, 12, 1999, (Yolo County). Submitted with the permission of the "Winters Express," 312 Railroad Ave., Winters, CA 95694.)
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