John Peter Vukasin Jr. (May 25, 1928 – September 20, 1993) was a

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district. Each district covers one U.S. state or a portion of a state. There is at least one feder ...

of the

United States District Court for the Northern District of California The United States District Court for the Northern District of California (in case citations, N.D. Cal.) is the federal United States district court whose jurisdiction comprises the following counties of California: Alameda, Contra Costa, De ...

Education and career

He was born in

Oakland Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major West Coast port, Oakland is ...

, California and graduated from Fremont High School."Notes about People in Uniform at Camp, Abroad"
''

Oakland Tribune The ''Oakland Tribune'' was a daily newspaper published in Oakland, California, and a predecessor of the '' East Bay Times''. It was published by the Bay Area News Group (BANG), a subsidiary of MediaNews Group. Founded in 1874, the ''Tribune'' ...

'', Oakland, California, volume CLVII, number 182, December 29, 1952, page 20. He received an Artium Baccalaureus degree from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

in 1950 and a

Bachelor of Laws A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

from the

University of California, Berkeley School of Law The University of California, Berkeley School of Law (Berkeley Law) is the law school of the University of California, Berkeley. The school was commonly referred to as "Boalt Hall" for many years, although it was never the official name. This cam ...

in 1956. He was in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

from January 1951 to 1953 and was stationed at

Fort Ord Fort Ord is a former United States Army post on Monterey Bay on the Pacific Ocean coast in California, which closed in 1994 due to Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) action. Most of the fort's land now makes up the Fort Ord National Monument, ...

, California, where he completed basic training and became an instructor with the 6th Division Faculty of the

6th Infantry Division 6th Division may refer to: Infantry divisions *6th Division (Australia) * 6th Division (Austria) *6th (United Kingdom) Division *Finnish 6th Division (Winter War) *Finnish 6th Division (Continuation War) *6th Division (Reichswehr) *6th Division ( ...

. He became a corporal. He was a trial attorney of the Division of Highways, Department of Public Works, State of California from 1956 to 1957. He was in private practice in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, California in 1958, and in Oakland from 1959 to 1968. He was a Commissioner of the

California Public Utilities Commission The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC or PUC) is a regulatory agency that regulates privately owned public utilities in the state of California, including electric power, telecommunications, natural gas and water companies. In addition ...

from 1969 to 1974. He was a judge of the

California Superior Court Superior courts in California are the State court (United States), state trial courts with general jurisdiction to hear and decide any civil or criminal action which is not specially designated to be heard in some other court or before a governm ...

from 1974 to 1983.

Federal judicial service

On September 13, 1983, Vukasin was nominated by President

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

to a seat on the

vacated by Judge Stanley Alexander Weigel. Vukasin was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

on September 20, 1983, and received his commission the same day. He served until his death of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

, on September 20, 1993, exactly ten years to the day after he received his commission.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vukasin, John P. Jr. 1928 births 1993 deaths 20th-century American lawyers California state court judges Judges of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California American people of Serbian descent UC Berkeley School of Law alumni Superior court judges in the United States United States district court judges appointed by Ronald Reagan United States Army non-commissioned officers Fremont High School (Oakland, California) alumni