Adios, Your Honor

I attended a funeral today, of a wonderful lady who died much too young. Judge Maxine Cohen Lando was memorialized at Temple Bet Shira, across from Palmetto High. The place was packed -- literally every seat was taken. I think there were about 1500 attendees.

Maxine was raised in Miami, and went to Gables High. She had a boyfriend named Michael, but her parents made her break off their relationship, on account of his FTBJ (failure to be Jewish). She went off to college in Michigan, and then back to the U for law school, and married a CPA and had 2 daughters, who are now in their late 20s. Max divorced the CPA, and, through the wonders of Facebook (tm) she reconnected with Michael and married him. Alas, he would also die young, just last year.

Maxine became a Circuit Judge in 1995, and my partner Paul and I got to know her well in the early 2000s when she presided over a tragic case we handled. The case involved a fire in Hialeah, where a young girl was killed, and her brother terribly burned. We sued the owner of the apartment building for various fire safety violations, and the case was hard fought.

Judge Maxine moved the case well, and then ordered us all to mediate with the former Chief Judge Gerry Wetherington, who did a great job of getting the case settled.

Paul and I were so impressed with her, we held a fundraiser to help her retain her office. Back in the day, we used to claim that we put the "fun" in fundraiser, and we did. The party was a grand one, with a pianist playing show tunes, and great food and drink.

Max raised a good amount of money, and along with the other contributions, scared away political opponents and stayed in office.

I had heard that she had taken ill last year, with bile duct cancer, the rare disease that also claimed former Dolphin player and announcer Jim Mandich. Maxine died less than a year after her diagnosis.

The funeral today was quite an event. More than 20 judges, current and retired, attended, along with the Miami Dade mayor and some County Commissioners.

Maxines friends and sisters spoke, along with the Chief Judge Joel Brown. Her daughters spoke, too, battling emotion to share with us all how great a mother Maxine was, and how she insisted the 2 girls become best friends, to support each other "after she was gone."

Of course, this message resonated with me, as my primary goal with the Ds was the same. As they're now 23 and 20, and best friends despite their many differences, it gives me such joy to proclaim mission accomplished.

Judge Maxine founded the Domestic Violence Court, which has been copied nationally. She was an opera singer. She was a student of the arts, and religion.

She was, to borrow from Tom Wolfe, a woman in full.

A wise man back at the U, the long time Chair of the English Department, gave me advice about life, back in 1982. "David," he said, "in culture and friends, be as a giraffe -- take only from the tops of trees, leave the lower parts to others."

Judge Maxine Cohen Lando was someone I knew, but not well enough. She elevated those around her, and is sorely missed.