Caryl Warner; Versatile Lawyer Practiced in California for 64 Years

Caryl Warner, who with 64 years in practice was among the longest-serving lawyers in California, has died. He was 89.

Warner, who held a license to practice law from 1929 until his retirement in 1993, died Wednesday at the home of his son Caryl Christopher in Asheville, N.C., said another son, Dr. Richard Warner of Los Angeles, on Friday.

In latter stages of his career, Warner concentrated on family law cases--divorce, paternity and child custody--but over the years his work ran the gamut of litigation.

In 1950, he blocked annexation by Port Hueneme of the Navy-Coast Guard harbor facilities built there during World War II.

In 1967, he co-founded an organization called Kidnap Finders Inc. to trace children taken by noncustodial parents.

In the 1970s, he represented the mother and child in a paternity case against actor Chad Everett. The actor never acknowledged that he was the youngster’s father.

In the 1980s, Warner unsuccessfully fought a libel suit for the late Agness “Aggie� Underwood, the legendary former city editor of the defunct Los Angeles Herald-Express. She claimed she was wrongly portrayed in the book “The Last Mafioso� as helping underworld figure Mickey Cohen steal $1 million. A judge dismissed the case.

A graduate of the Southwestern University School of Law in Los Angeles, Warner wrote a legal column for several years for the Daily Journal legal newspaper. In the 1930s, he also taught briefly at Hollywood High School and was Western states property officer of the U.S. Office of Civil Defense.

Warner interrupted his legal career in the early 1940s to serve in the Navy during World War II. Later, he was active in the American Veterans of World War II and was California commander. He also headed several national committees in the organization, including the Civil Defense Committee, and represented them in court and at legislative hearings.

From an old California family, the Los Angeles-born Warner in 1953 co-founded the 100-Year Club, which he served as treasurer and later president. Members had to be from families established in the state 100 years before the club’s founding.

Warner’s maternal grandfather, Col. Robert Clark, had come to California in 1853 and served in the state Legislature.

Warner was also active in the First Century Families and the California Society of the Sons of the Revolution.

In addition to Caryl Christopher and Richard, the often-married Warner is survived by sons Jack, James and Jeff; a daughter, Lynn; and nine grandchildren.