Daniel Kremer, former presiding justice of San Diego-based appellate court, dies at 88

Daniel Kremer, a former presiding justice of the state appellate court’s San Diego branch and former member of the state Judicial Council, has died. He was 88.

The highly regarded jurist, who overcame polio as a young teen, died Feb. 17 in Del Mar following a short illness, his family said.

Kremer’s career took him from the state Attorney General’s Office to the San Diego Superior Court bench, then quickly to the 4th District Court of Appeal, Division 1, where he spent the last 18 years of his career before retiring in 2003.

Among his accolades: The state Judicial Council in 2002 tapped him as Jurist of the Year, the highest honor that body bestows.

“When I think of Dan, I think of excellence,” said U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Miller, who met Kremer in the 1970s when both worked in the state Attorney General’s Office in San Diego.

Miller called Kremer “a natural leader, engaged and respected by everyone.”

“His temperament was always one of patience and civility, and a tireless work ethic. He always combined those qualities with a scholarly approach to the law,” Miller said.

Gary Schons, who Kremer hired as a deputy attorney general in San Diego in the 1970s, said Kremer was clear with the staff that “the most important thing was integrity.” And he was “dedicated to the rule of law.”

“Dan was the consummate public servant, public lawyer and judicial officer,” said Schons, who led the attorney general’s criminal divisio...