Joseph Forest, 1932-2006: Lawyer fought for civil rights, shaped land use in Marin
Richard Halstead
Article Launched:10/21/2006 05:16:38 AM PDT


In 1965, Joseph Forest, then a Novato resident, was among 40 Northern California lawyers who traveled to Mississippi to take depositions from blacks who said they had been denied the right to vote.
Some of the lawyers had their windshields shattered and their tires slashed. "We really felt that, in a sense, we were at war with the white community down there," Mr. Forest told reporters when he returned.

Mr. Forest, once a prominent Marin county lawyer and Democratic Party activist, died Oct. 14 at 74 after a brief battle with the neuromuscular disease commonly known as Lou Gehrig's Disease.

"Joe Forest was a fine person, a good attorney and a credible candidate," said former GOP Assemblyman William Bagley, whom Mr. Forest challenged unsuccessfully in 1970 as the Democratic Party candidate.

At the time, Bagley had already served in the Assembly for 10 years and was a political powerhouse who attracted few serious challengers. Even though the Vietnam War was raging at the time, Bagley said it never came up during the election.

"Those were the days of political civility," Bagley said.

Mr. Forest was born in Seattle and graduated from Georgetown High School in Washington, D.C. He grew up all over the country because his

father was a U.S. Navy captain.
Mr. Forest received his bachelor's degree from the Naval Academy and then worked as a Naval intelligence officer from 1955 to 1959. He graduated from Stanford Law School in 1962.

After working several years for the San Rafael firm of Riede and Elliott, he went to work for the county of Marin as a deputy county counsel in 1965.

"Joe was a very, very fine lawyer - top of the line," said Douglas Maloney, former Marin county counsel and Mr. Forest's boss when he worked for the county. "He was a great friend and a wonderful guy to be with. I'm very saddened by his passing."

Mr. Forest was active in Democratic politics. He was the Marin co-chairman for the gubernatorial campaign of Edmund Brown in 1966 and the presidential campaigns of Robert Kennedy in 1968 and Edmund Muskie in 1971.

After working for the county for seven years, Mr. Forest left in 1972 to practice environmental and municipal law with the Marin firm of Carrow, Jones, Applen & Forest. He would go on to serve as the city attorney for Larkspur, Novato, Petaluma, Cotati and Calistoga.

While working for Novato, Mr. Forest handled federal litigation that mapped the future land uses for Hamilton Air Force Base. He also handled the land acquisition for the Soulajule reservoir project while working for the Marin Municipal Water District.

Mr. Forest was an amateur winemaker at his home in Black Point. In 1985, he bought vineyard property in Healdsburg and moved there.

Jacqueline Forest Sichel, the youngest of Mr. Forest's three daughters, said her fondest memory of her father is sailing with him on Lake Shasta and off the coast of Maine, where they sometimes took summer vacations.

"He was very passionate about the water," Sichel said.

Sichel said her father's parents were very formal and did not share her father's liberal political views. She said her father's liberalism blossomed after he moved to California.

Sichel said she never learned what her father did while working as an intelligence officer. "He would never tell. He kept to his oath," Sichel said.

In addition to Sichel, Mr. Forest is survived by his aunt, Kathleen Andrews of Brookville, Maine; daughter Cindy Anne Forest, son Benjamin Forest, and longtime companion, Marganne Clay of Kingston, Washington. Forest and Clay met while Clay was living in Marin.

A memorial reception for family and friends will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday at Empire College at 3035 Cleveland Ave. in Santa Rosa.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Maine Maritime Academy, Student Endowment Fund, Development Office, Pleasant Street, Castine, Maine 04420; or to the ALS Association at 27001 Agoura Road, Suite 150, Calabasas Hills, CA 91301.

Contact Richard Halstead via e-mail at rhalstead@marinij.com