Ronald Sing Wai Lew (
Chinese name
Chinese may refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China.
**'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethni ...
: 刘成威; September 19, 1941 – May 19, 2023) 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
.
Education and career
Born in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
, Lew graduated from
Loyola High School. He received a
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...
degree from
Loyola Marymount University
Loyola Marymount University (LMU) is a private Jesuit and Marymount research university in Los Angeles, California. LMU enrolls over 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students, making it the largest Catholic university on the west coast of the ...
in 1964. He received a
Juris Doctor
A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...
from
Southwestern University School of Law
Southwestern Law School is a private law school in Los Angeles, California. It is accredited by the American Bar Association and enrolls nearly 1,000 students. Its campus includes the Bullocks Wilshire building, an Art Deco National Register o ...
in 1971. 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 1967 to 1969. He was a deputy city attorney of the Criminal and Civil Liability Divisions of the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office in California from 1972 to 1974. He was in private practice of law in Los Angeles from 1974 to 1981. He was a Los Angeles fire and police pension commissioner from 1976 to 1982. He was a judge on the Los Angeles Municipal Court from 1982 to 1984. He was a judge on the Los Angeles Superior Court from 1984 to 1987.
[Robert Greene]
1998 "Person of the Year"
''Metropolitan News-Enterprise
''Metropolitan News-Enterprise'', also known as ''MetNews'' or ''Met News'', is a small daily legal newspaper published in Los Angeles, California.
History
The ''Enterprise'' newspaper was founded in 1901 and the ''Metropolitan News'' in 1945. ...
'', December 31, 1998
Federal judicial service
Lew 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 ...
on February 2, 1987, to a seat on the
vacated by Judge
Laughlin E. Waters. He 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 May 7, 1987, and received commission the same day.
He assumed
senior status on September 19, 2006. Outside of
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...
, Lew was the first
Chinese-American
Chinese Americans are Americans of Chinese ancestry. Chinese Americans constitute a subgroup of East Asian Americans which also constitute a subgroup of Asian Americans. Many Chinese Americans have ancestors from mainland China, Hong Kong ...
appointed to the federal bench after being appointed by President Reagan in 1987.
His service terminated upon his death on May 19, 2023, at the age of 81.
Awards and honors
In 2001, Lew was awarded the Historymakers Award by the Los Angeles
Chinese American Museum
The Chinese American Museum (Chinese: 華美 博物館; abbreviated CAM) is a museum located in Downtown Los Angeles as a part of the El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historic Monument. It is dedicated to the history and experience of Chinese America ...
in law and justice.
He was also honored by the
Chinese Historical Society of Southern California
Chinese Historical Society of Southern California (CHSSC, zh, first=t, t=南加州華人歷史學會, p=Nán Jiāzhōu Huárén Lìshǐ Xuéhuì) is an historical society and organization based in Los Angeles Chinatown, California. There are ...
(CHSSC) as one of the Chinese American Pioneers in Law in 2005.
See also
*
List of Asian American jurists
Research history
Studies led by California Supreme Court Justice Goodwin Liu (2017) and the Center for American Progress (2019) Full report: provided in-depth statistics into the issue.
Judicial officers
This is a dynamic list of Asian Ameri ...
*
References
Sources
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lew, Ronald Sing Wai
1941 births
2023 deaths
21st-century American judges
American jurists of Chinese descent
California state court judges
Judges of the United States District Court for the Central District of California
Lawyers from Los Angeles
Loyola Marymount University alumni
Members of the Committee of 100
Southwestern Law School alumni
Superior court judges in the United States
United States district court judges appointed by Ronald Reagan
Loyola High School (Los Angeles) alumni