Eugene Robert “Bob” Wallach (1934–2022): Brilliant Bay Area Lawyer Embroiled in Reagan Administration Scandal

Bob Wallach and gravemarker

Plot 76

E. Robert “Bob” Wallach was one of California’s most accomplished and enigmatic trial lawyers, a courtroom virtuoso whose career intersected with national politics, personal upheaval, and a dramatic public fall followed by exoneration. Born and raised in Los Angeles, he developed an early love of argumentation through competitive debate at the University of Southern California. At Berkeley’s Boalt Hall, he excelled academically and formed a lifelong friendship with fellow law student Edwin Meese III, later U.S. Attorney General under Ronald Reagan. 

Their moot-court partnership would eventually draw Wallach—reluctantly, and at significant personal cost—into the political orbit of the Reagan administration and Attorney General Ed Meese. [In an Oakland connection of note, members of the Meese family are interred at Mountain View Cemetery. Learn more HERE. As of the date of this post, Edwin Meese III is still alive.]

Wallach began his legal career at the respected San Francisco litigation firm Walkup Downing. His talent was immediately recognized: in one of his earliest cases, a railroad-crossing wrongful-death trial, he defeated two of California’s leading trial lawyers. The win helped establish his reputation as a brilliant young litigator whose poise, preparation, and instinctive connection with juries set him apart. He rose quickly to become a name partner. But in the early 1970s, because of significant domestic challenges—his wife’s serious physical and mental-health struggles—he left the firm and restarted his career as a sole practitioner working from his Piedmont home. The shift was dramatic, but it reinforced his independence and his ability to thrive under pressure.

Across five decades, Wallach accumulated a trial record that bordered on mythic: 222 cases tried to verdict, with only 12 losses. Colleagues described him as elegant, perceptive, analytical, and deeply attuned to human behavior—qualities that juries responded to. He served as a mentor to generations of lawyers and co-founded the Hastings College of the Law Center for Trial and Appellate Advocacy, serving as its dean and chairman. His dedication to professional standards made him a model of courtroom decorum in an increasingly mediated legal culture.

His high-profile clients reflected his wide-ranging practice and intellectual curiosity. Wallach represented the Fang family during their controversial purchase of the San Francisco Examiner and served for fourteen years as advisor and counsel to The Sharper Image, whose founder had been one of his students. He preferred complex, high-stakes personal-injury litigation but was equally known for his willingness to advise on unusual or sensitive matters.

Sunday, NY Times feature on Meese and Wallach

The turning point in Wallach’s public life came during the 1980s, after his friend Ed Meese called on him to join the Reagan administration. Wallach, a lifelong Democrat, accepted a presidential appointment to the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy and performed informal advisory roles for the administration. The decision cost him socially and professionally—he later said that both Democrats and Republicans distrusted him—but he believed he was answering a civic calling.

This move, however, placed him squarely in the pathway of the Wedtech scandal. In 1987 he was indicted on racketeering, fraud, and conspiracy charges for allegedly helping the Wedtech Corporation secure federal contracts through his Washington contacts, including Meese. After a lengthy trial, he was convicted in 1989 and sentenced to six years in prison, fines, and forfeitures. But the case quickly unraveled when key prosecution witnesses admitted giving false testimony. In 1991, the U.S. Court of Appeals overturned the conviction. A retrial in 1993 ended with a hung jury, and the government dropped all remaining charges. Wallach, in the eyes of the law, was fully exonerated.

The ordeal devastated him financially and professionally. He later said the case removed him from his practice for four years, and his seven-year odyssey through trials, appeals, and waiting periods left him economically “starting over from scratch.” Yet he returned to San Francisco determined to rebuild. His resilience—what he called the “Icarus fallen” arc of American public life—became an essential part of his personal narrative. Having spent decades representing catastrophically injured clients, he often noted that nothing he endured compared with the adversity he had witnessed in their lives.

In the years after the scandal, Wallach slowly reconstituted a thriving practice. Referrals from other attorneys—who trusted his judgment even when the political world had turned against him—remained his lifeline. He continued to try cases, mentor younger lawyers, and speak publicly about the realities of litigation. His philosophy emphasized both humility and rigor: that trial lawyers should not romanticize the profession, that courtroom experience is irreplaceable, and that civility is a professional obligation. His personal style, from his sartorial formality to his insistence on dining with a tablecloth, became part of his lore.

Wallach died at his home in Alameda on May 15, 2022, at age 88. His life embodied the contradictions of American legal and political experience—meteoric success, public humiliation, vindication, and renewal. 

Sources: New York Times obituary (May 29, 2022); Sunday, NY Times, June 19, 1988; Plaintiff Magazine profile (June 2010); National Registry of Exonerations; Mountain View Cemetery historical materials (Meese family); Lives of the Dead; Yuma Daily Sun

Stuart Samuel Hawley (1883–1941): Original Port of Oakland Board Member

Stuart & Harriet Hawley

Main Mausoleum

Stuart Samuel Hawley was a prominent Bay Area capitalist, civic leader, and early architect of East Bay infrastructure and commerce. Born in 1883, he was a lifelong resident of the Oakland-Piedmont area and became widely known for his leadership in finance, real estate, and public service.

Hawley served as president of the Hawley Investment Company, Pacific Metals Company, and the Alameda Investment Company, and as vice president and manager of the R.W. Meese Estate Company. He also held a director position at the American Trust Company, establishing himself as a key figure in East Bay business and finance.

A committed civic leader, Hawley was appointed in 1925 as a founding board member of the Port of Oakland, following a citywide charter amendment that created the semi-autonomous agency. His service from 1925 to 1927 helped lay the foundation for the Port’s modern governance and the administration of publicly owned tidelands. 

Beyond the Port, he was also active in campaigns to improve regional transportation systems and civic facilities. Known for his behind-the-scenes influence, Hawley worked to build consensus and implement lasting improvements across the East Bay.

He was deeply involved in the social and club life of the area, serving as past president of the Athens Athletic Club and maintaining memberships in the Claremont Country Club, Cragmont Club, Mt. Diablo Country Club, the Bohemian Club, Athenian-Nile Club, and several Masonic orders.

Stuart Hawley married Harriet Meek on June 17, 1908. They had two children: Stuart Meek Hawley, a Dean Witter & Co. executive and champion golfer, and Mrs. Loy Hager.

Frederich Edwin Meese (1857-1933); Oakland City Councilman; City Treasurer

Ed Meese gravesite and obituary

Frederich Edwin Meese (1857-1933) was a Republican member of the Oakland City Council from 1899-1907 and later served as the City Treasurer.

Meese was born in San Francisco in 1857 to Herman and Catharina Meese, who traveled west around the Horn in 1850. He attended Lincoln Grammar School in San Fransisco, Concordia College in Indiana and graduated from the Heald Business College in 1876.

He worked as secretary of the Bay Sugar Refinery, which was owned by his father and was the first sugar refinery on the West Coast. He then went into the mercantile and insurance business, including a brief stint in Sacramento. He was a member of the Board of Trade, the Nile Club and in 1905 became a founder of the Oakland Chamber of Commerce.

In 1898, he was elected from the Fourth Ward on Oakland's west side and later served as the at-large councilman. He served as chair of the City Council's Finance Committee. In his May 1907 election, he won by just nine votes after a recount.

The Meese Family plot at Mountain View Cemetery

In 1908, Richard B. Ayer resigned from his post as the City Treasurer & Tax Collector. He had been appointed to the position in 1906 then elected in 1907. Meese was appointed to the position on April 1, 1908 by Mayor Frank Mott. Allegedly Ayer resigned to continue in his personal business affairs, but it was noted that the whole thing was handled with great secrecy. Meese had already declared to run for the office in 1907. He was replaced on the Council by Frank Bronner, an accountant at the Central Bank.

In 1912, Meese was accused of graft in his post as Treasurer & Tax Collector and charges were brought in Superior Court by Rev. Robert Whitaker, pastor of the 23rd Avenue Baptist Church. Meese responded to the reverend by stating, "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor - Ninth Commandment." It's unclear whether anything became of this.

Meese was an active member of Zion Lutheran Church and active in German Lutheran affairs in the state.

He died of a heart attack at his home in Oakland. The City Council adjourned in his memory on June 1, 1933.

His great-grandson Edwin Meese III served as Attorney General under President Ronald Reagan.

Sources: OaklandWiki, Oakland Tribune, Ancestry.com

Meese Family - Prominent Politicians

[Top photo, Myron Meese; Center photo US Attorney General Edwin Meese III; Bottom photo of Meese Family plot by Michael Colbruno]

Plot 13

Hermann Meese (1826-1912) was born in Hanover, Germany and moved to New Orleans in 1848. After a brief stint in St. Louis, he headed for California and settled in San Francisco where he initially worked as a building contractor.

In 1864, he began work at the Bay Sugar Refinery where he served as President from 1865-1879. He also was in the wine business and founded the United Anaheim Wine Growers’ Association.

He married his wife Anna Margarethe Waldman in 1853 in San Francisco. They had six sons and one daughter, Constant, Edwin, Walter, Hermann, Emma, Gustav and Adolph.

Cornelia Meese (1859-1961) was the wife of Edwin Meese, mother of Edwin Meese, Jr. (1896- 1985 ) and grandmother of U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese III (born 1931). She was born to Dutch parents in Grand Rapids, Michigan two years before the start of the American Civil War. Her brother Michael fought for the Union forces. The Meese’s moved to Oakland in 1882 after paying a visit to her father-in-law Herman Meese. A few years after her husband’s death in 1933 she moved to San Francisco to live with her daughter.

Edwin Meese (1857-1933) was an insurance broker who served on the Oakland City Council and as Oakland City Treasurer. He was born in San Francisco, but lived for 54 years in Oakland.

Edwin Meese, Jr. (1896-1985) is the father of former United States Attorney General Edwin Meese III. He was a World War I veteran who went on to serve six terms as Treasurer-Tax Collector of Alameda County. Mr. Meese liked to tell the story of an angry taxpayer who once threw his shirt on Meese's desk, saying ``You've taken everything else, you might as well have my shirt!''

After leaving office he joined Barclay’s Bank in Oakland as a community relations executive. He was married to Leone Meese (1904-1991) with whom he had four sons, Edwin Meese III (born 1931), Myron (1933-1990), George and Clifford (1934-2001).

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