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Jack Berman, 80; San Francisco Judge, Civil Rights Advocate

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From Times Staff and Wire Reports

Jack K. Berman, 80, a San Francisco judge, socialite and civil rights advocate, died Thursday at a San Francisco hospital of head injuries suffered in a fall. Berman struck his head on the ground after he collapsed from a heart arrhythmia while playing tennis.

Berman, a former husband of U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), was born in San Francisco and earned bachelor’s and law degrees from UC Berkeley.

He served in the Navy during World War II, and was a defense counsel for the War Crimes Tribunal in Manila in 1946-47. He married Dianne Goldman, who later became Dianne Feinstein, in 1956. The couple divorced in 1960.

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After World War II, Berman practiced law and was an assistant district attorney in San Francisco, before Gov. Jerry Brown appointed him a Superior Court judge in 1982. He retired in 1992.

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