Tribute to a Partner
Tribute to a Partner – Richard Rush Beswick (1941-2006)
Richard Rush Beswick, founding partner of Milligan and Beswick, died on November 27, 2006 from a heart attack.
Mr. Beswick was born April 23, 1941, in Hollywood to John Beswick, a physician, and Mary Ann Beswick, a homemaker. As a teen, he attended the Harvard school in North Hollywood, graduating in 1958. He went on to receive a bachelor’s degree from Occidental College in 1962 and earned a degree in law from USC School of Law in 1965.
In the more than 40 years he worked for the firm, he specialized in family and criminal law. He was also a member of the American Board of Criminal Lawyers, California Attorneys for Criminal Justice, Colorado Criminal Defense Bar and the Association of Certified Specialists of Family Law for Southern California.
Those who knew Beswick both in and out of the courtroom remembered him as an excellent trial lawyer with a great passion for life. San Bernardino County District Attorney Michael A. Ramos, a longtime acquaintance of Beswick’s, said that during his 14 years as a trial lawyer, he only lost two misdemeanor cases. One of those was to Beswick. At the same time, Beswick helped the younger generation by doing volunteer work for high-school and college students.
“The only payback he wanted was that they get a job or graduate from college,” said Ramos.
Redlands Police Chief Jim Bueermann met Beswick when he was a young cop being grilled by the attorney on the witness stand. In more recent years, Beswick was Bueerman’s personal attorney and good friend. “He was obviously one of the region’s best attorneys, and his passing is going to be a loss not only to his family and friends but to the legal community and the community at large,” he said.
Outside of work, Beswick was an avid cyclist who liked to drag his mountain-biking buddies up and down steep hills. “He was fearless in a courtroom and fearless on a mountain bike,” said fellow cyclist Craig Kundig, who often rode with Beswick around Snow Summit at Big Bear Lake. He also biked 60 to 100 miles a week on local roads and biked in the San Juan Islands and in Vail, Colo., where he had another home. His other passions were skiing, tennis, fine wines, the Lakers and the USC Trojans. On the homefront, he was supportive of his wife – the former mayor of Redlands and a founder of the Redlands Bicycle Classic – and three children.
Excerpts from: The Sun Telegram
Debbie Pfeiffer Trunnell, Staff Writer
November 28, 2006
