Louis (Lou) A. Highman, beloved father, brother, uncle, and friend passed away on March 23, 2023.
Louis was the second of three sons born to Arthur and Edith Arkoff Highman. He grew up in the San Fernando Valley and in 1965 graduated from Birmingham High School in Van Nuys, California, where he had been student body vice president, the salutatorian of his senior class, and a champion debater. At age 16, Louis was admitted to Stanford University and graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1969. He obtained a J.D. from Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley in 1974.
Between college and law school, Louis served for two years in the AmeriCorps Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) program. After law school, he worked as a legal aid attorney for the San Francisco Neighborhood Legal Assistance Foundation before becoming a founding member of Highman, Highman & Ball, an employment and consumer law firm. Louis was a committed and talented advocate, whose legal skills and dedication improved the lives of many individuals. With cases he pursued through the higher courts, Louis helped establish precedents that continue to bolster the rights of employees and consumers. Louis enjoyed sharing his professional knowledge and experience with fellow lawyers, students, and the broader public through teaching and television and radio appearances.
In 1988, Louis married Shannon Maloney and within a few years they were a family of four with two daughters, Alice and Molly. As a young family, they shared many happy times traveling, enjoying new adventures, and visiting family and friends. Louis was devoted to Shannon; her death in 2009 was a hard blow, but Louis put his family ahead of his own loss. The happiness, well-being, and education of Alice and Molly became his priority. Being a father to Alice and Molly was his most treasured job and he excelled at it.
Louis eagerly shared with his daughters his experiences, interests, and talents, including music, language, travel, and a lifelong love for France, which he developed during a college semester abroad in Tours, France. He was a patient and encouraging coach for Alice and Molly's soccer and softball teams, and later lent his considerable experience to their high school mock trial team.
Louis' sense of adventure, intellectual curiosity, and humor were matched only by his profound kindness, gentleness, and idealism. He will be dearly missed by his daughters, brothers Mark (Phyllis) and Bruce (Justine), nieces, nephews, cousins, and many (many) friends.
A funeral service was held March 27, 2023 at Mountain View Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that a donation be made to the American Civil Liberties Union or another organization that honors Louis' values and memory.