Dear Norm,
There are so many of us who are struggling with things we never got to say to you before your sudden and unexpected death on May 24th. We were waiting to say them. Waiting for the big surprise birthday bash Kathy Goater was organizing for you this September. Waiting for the Retirement Dinner in 2010 or maybe 2014 or even 2018. (After all, you always pointed to the Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau as a role model and he is in his ninth term as D.A. at age 86.)
Now we are seeking solace in sharing stories of our times together. For me, the times that stand out are our rides to and from Olympia in 1981 as we worked for passage of House Bill 440, which ultimately became the Sentencing Reform Act of 1981. This was pre-cell phones and we had an hour down and an hour back without any interruptions to talk about life, politics, law and the Mariners. We got to know each other in those long car rides and we came to appreciate what a great team we made in the crucible that is the state Legislature.
Most of us would like to tell you that we owe you so much. We are state and federal judges, managing partners in law firms, trial lawyers, successful businessmen and women, governors, United States attorneys, attorneys general, city attorneys, community leaders, heads of school boards. You taught us how to handle difficult decisions. You urged us to pursue our dreams and you made sure we were ready to live them.
And when the time came for you to let us go, you never wavered even when it was difficult for you. In 1989, you suffered the worst loss any parent can endure when you and Judy lost your wonderful daughter Karen in that tragic sledding accident. The months after that awful day in February were a horrible ordeal for your family. The last thing you needed on the work front was to lose your chief of staff and have to start all over with a new close advisor. Yet when the opportunity came that same year for me to apply for a new judicial position, you called Gov. Booth Gardner and put in your always persuasive recommendation that he appoint me to the Superior Court bench. You put me and my future ahead of your present needs. You have been so well served since then by your superb selection of Dan Satterberg, who has taken that position of chief of staff to a new level in his 16-plus years working at your side.
But as Judge Bill Downing pointed out, you didn’t just teach us to be better lawyers or leaders. You also taught us to be better spouses and parents. “It’s not that work isn’t important,” you told us time and time again. “But family always comes first.” You and Judy walked that walk in how you raised Karen and Mark despite both of you being as busy as any professional couple could be with work, campaigns and the many demands on your private time. We absorbed that lesson, applied it in our own lives, and now are passing that mantra on to our law clerks, judicial assistants, associates and staff employees.
So many of us also want to tell you how much we appreciate your courage in not just going with the conventional wisdom in promoting people and for giving a diverse group of young attorneys significant opportunities to excel. Look at the rosters of judicial officers in state and federal court and you see example after example of minority judges who got their start as King County deputy prosecutors under your guidance.
Most of all we would like to tell you how proud we are to be part of your family. Saying you worked for Norm Maleng gave you instant credibility as a lawyer who was trained in a nonpartisan, professional public law firm. As U.S. Judge Ricardo Martinez said, you always told us our job was about doing justice, and sometimes that meant the prosecution lost the case.
You were the heart and soul of justice in the community you loved for more than 30 years and most of all that community which loves and treasures you wants to say, “Thank you.”
