PJDC Mourns Death of Member Jack Daniel

PJDC mourns the death of member Jack Daniel of Fresno, who spent his entire legal career as a public interest advocate, including as a Fresno County Public Defender. Jack spent more than 30 years working as a paralegal and lawyer in legal aid programs, including Legal Aid of Western Michigan, East Texas Legal Services, Central California Legal Services and California Rural Legal Assistance, Inc. Jack was a dedicated, passionate, and highly skilled advocate on behalf of the rural poor. He used his considerable expertise to defend the educational and civil rights of language minority, immigrant and incarcerated youth, who are too often unrepresented in the legal system.

The Fresno Bee’s obituary of Jack noted that “though he had cancer for more than three years, he was working on behalf of children with behavioral issues at the Juvenile Justice Campus south of Fresno up until the Christmas break.”

Jack had been honored by the Fresno chapter of the NAACP, Youth Law Center, and State Bar of California for his service on behalf of children and the poor.

Jack died after a long battle with cancer on Jan. 2, 2010 at his home surrounded by his family. He was 60 years old.