Daniel Fogel; Bradley’s Personal Lawyer

Daniel Fogel, a veteran trial lawyer and Mayor Tom Bradley’s personal attorney, died Friday of lymphoma. He was 67.

Fogel’s cancer had been in remission until two weeks ago, said his friend and former law partner, Judge Stephen Reinhardt of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Fogel, who lived in Beverly Hills, died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

“Dan Fogel was a lawyer’s lawyer,” Mayor Bradley said in a prepared statement. “He set the standard for an entire profession. A whole generation of California’s finest judges and lawyers learned from Dan.

“Dan Fogel was a great and trusted friend,” Bradley continued. “His passing is a tremendous loss for our community.”

Bradley retained Fogel, a longtime friend and legal adviser, to represent him in the city attorney’s 1989 inquiry into the mayor’s ties with Far East National Bank and Valley Federal Savings and Loan Assn. Fogel worked out a settlement of the city attorney’s suit.

Manuel Real, chief judge of the Los Angeles-based central district of the federal court, praised Fogel’s dedication to the legal profession and Fogel’s work for the court on various policy and problem-solving panels.

“We are going to miss him very much,” Real said. “He was a lawyer who wanted to be a trial lawyer and was in every sense of the word. He was a trial lawyer par excellence .”

Highly respected in federal and state courts, Fogel had represented lawyers at the 9th Circuit Judicial Conference since 1987. He served on several committees of the State Bar of California involving labor law, jury instructions and court administration.

Fogel was a past president of the Los Angeles Trial Lawyers Assn. and served on the boards of governors of the California Trial Lawyers Assn. and the Assn. of American Trial Lawyers.

He headed the Los Angeles County Bar Assn.’s controversial Special Committee on Judicial Evaluation at its inception in 1978. The committee rates candidates for state judicial office as “well qualified,” “qualified” or “not qualified.”

Fogel was a trustee of the Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust, the nationwide fund set up to handle asbestos claims against the Manville Corp.

He had served on the board of Los Angeles’ influential Community Redevelopment Agency.

Fogel’s clients included the Los Angeles County American Federation of Labor, and the Van Nuys Publishing Co., former owners of the Daily News.

A native of Chicago, Fogel earned his bachelor’s and law degrees at the University of Chicago. He met his wife, Gladys (Cappy) Fogel, when both served in the U.S. Navy during World War II.

Fogel began his legal career with the prominent Los Angeles law firm of Loeb & Loeb, and later co-founded his own firm, which is now Fogel, Feldman, Ostrov, Ringler & Klevens.

Besides his wife, Fogel is survived by two sons, Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Jeremy Fogel and Dr. Barry Fogel, and by four grandchildren.

Services are planned for 10 a.m. Sunday at Hillside Memorial Park and Mortuary, 6001 W. Centinela Ave.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Israel Cancer Research Fund.