Farewell To A Giant - Gideon Kanner (1930-2023)

Aloha, Gideon

This is one of those posts I wish I didn't have to write.

I'm sad to report that our teacher, mentor, and friend Professor Gideon Kanner passed away on Wednesday, November 22, 2023, in his 93d year.

Appellate advocacy, eminent domain, and land use legend. Holocaust survivor. Prolific author and speaker. Argued Agins v. Tiburon at the Supreme Court. Educated generations of dirt lawyers at Loyola LA Law School. And even more through various professional legal education programs at Practicing Law Institute, American Law Institute-American Bar Association (ALI-ABA), and ALI-CLE, among others. One of the two lawyers for whom the Brigham-Kanner Property Rights Project at William and Mary Law School is named.

A person with sharp moral and intellectual clarity. Someone who never, ever -- ever -- gave up or gave in. We could go on and on, but we shall keep it short, because his legacy is secure. 

Many people knew or learned from Gideon, but not everyone understood where he came from. Here's some of that from the LA Daily Journal note about his passing, recently published:

Kanner was born in Poland in 1930, just as the Nazis were coming to power next door in Germany. Kanner's father and uncle were business partners when Hitler invaded Poland in 1939, and the brothers took different approaches to the occupation that led to a tragic outcome.

"His father's family fled, and his uncle's family was killed in the camps. Gideon's family spent much of the war hidden behind a false wall in a peasant's cottage. His older brother Joseph eventually left that sanctuary and essentially walked to Palestine, where he joined the British army," [Michael] Berger said. "After the war, the entire family made its way to New Jersey, where they were reunited and delighted to learn they had all survived."

A high school debate coach taught Gideon Kanner to speak perfect English so he could be understood. An engineering class at Cooper Union School for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York sparked an interest in rocketry. Kanner had a career in the industry that included a stint at Rocketdyne, where he worked on designs that were used to take astronauts to the moon.

While working as an engineer, Kanner began taking night classes at the Detroit College of Law. Then, he moved to Los Angeles and enrolled in the law school at the University of Southern California, from which he graduated in 1961.

After he got his bar card, he and a friend started a real property litigation practice under the shingle Fadem and Kanner.

And all that before he began his teaching career.

Although I did not attend Loyola and was never privileged to sit in his classroom, I owe my career to Gideon. In one of life's weird twists, the very first case I worked on as a young lawyer in a private law firm was a land use and regulatory takings case. But my law school education did not include formal training in property law beyond the first year required Real Property course, and I had no clue at all about land use law, or especially about the then-developing concept of regulatory takings. So I went down to the law library and copied every article on eminent domain, takings, and land use by this apparently well-known professor, Gideon Kanner. On the bus ride home each evening, I would pore over those articles. Thus, in one view, I am "self-taught." But in reality, I had Gideon whispering (maybe yelling would be more appropriate?) in my ear, showing me the way.

One of the proudest days of my professional life is when he wrote me, years later, and asked my thoughts about some issue. Gideon Kanner asking me? Wow.

An adopted son of Hawaii, Gideon was, with his family, a frequent visitor. I loved it when instead of saying "thank you" to me for something, he'd write "mahalo." A real local touch. 

Rather than write more, I'll take the liberty of reprinting some of the thoughts that have been circulating about Gideon this past week. Here's a sampling:

"...an inspiration..."

"One of a kind."

"...a man and lawyer whose life and career fills volumes..."

"...a giant who would never hesitate to help you..."

"The appellate world has lost a legend. A founder and the first president of the California Academy of Appellate Lawyers, he led an amazing life: Holocaust survivor, actual rocket scientist, law professor, eminent domain guru, persistent advocate, fierce advocate, appellate maven, colorful writer ...(and here), blogger, inspiration, raconteur, gadfly, curmudgeon. Those are just a few ways to describe this remarkable mensch."

"Gideon will live on in so many ways."

"...my gratitude for the great work of a great man.."

"The Dean of eminent domain."

"Gideon’s trumpet may be silenced, but the voice of our friend Gideon Kanner will echo for many generations."

"Gideon ... was academically brilliant but also carried the deeply heartfelt conviction to defend liberty in the trenches of the courts as though it could be lost if even one generation took it for granted. That sense of urgency was never absent from his lectures and writing..."

"If there is such a thing in our eminent domain world, Gideon Kanner was a celebrity....He ... had a humorous, caustic cynicism and irreverence for government action and was a terrific, patient teacher....Thank you, Gideon. May your memory be for a blessing."

"His oratory skills are legendary, with many regarding him as one of the finest appellate advocates to come before the California Supreme Court and U.S. Supreme Court....As one would imagine, Gideon’s achievements have been honored by countless awards and acknowledgments. On the international scene, Gideon consulted with the Japanese Construction Ministry to reform Japan’s expropriation laws, co-organized the International Colloquium on Comparative Expropriation Law at Oxford University, England, and was a visiting professor at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland."

"...a great human being..."

"Gideon felt the pain of those who were abused and was quick to call out the abusers."

"Gideon not only thought outside of the box before that phrase even existed, he laughed at the box and delighted in tearing it down."

"In California it is hard to write a brief without citing a case that was Gideon's."

"I can truly say that I became a better lawyer after meeting and interacting with Gideon."

I don't think there is a better professional legacy than the love of your colleagues. I am better for having known him.

Aloha, Professor.

Update: be sure to read Professor Kanner's final article, "Eminent Domain Projects That Didn't Work Out," just published.