I just learned this today (May 29th, 2026). My cousin Stan was sworn in to the bar by legendary Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas. This is from an article in the Union-Bulletin archives, sometime in the early 1960s.
Douglas was a graduate of Whitman College in Walla Walla, while Stan graduated from Walla Walla High School before going on to the University Of Washington. Steve posted this in the Barer Family Group on Facebook. Stan, himself, would have an amazing career in Politics, law, and business.
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At just 24 years old, serving as a young legal counsel to Senator Warren Magnuson, he helped draft the landmark public accommodations sections of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Having experienced anti-Semitic discrimination during his youth in Walla Walla, he channeled his personal experiences into creating laws that prohibited racial and religious discrimination in public commerce. His brilliant legal interpretations and personal diplomacy in 1979 single-handedly cleared the way to reopen trans-Pacific maritime trade between the U.S. and China after a 30-year freeze. He beautifully summarized his approach to global relations by saying, "Most nations are different from the U.S. But the point remains: What do you have in common, rather than what divides you?" Alongside his late wife Alta, he left a monumental legacy at his alma mater, the University of Washington School of Law, which included contributing to the construction of William H. Gates Hall. He established the Barer Institute for Leadership in Law & Global Development, which funds mid-career fellowships for lawyers from developing nations. His estate’s historic $45 million gift ensures this global human rights work continues permanently. Former Washington Supreme Court Justice Bobbe Bridge noted that he represented the best of the Jewish tradition of tikkun olam—repairing the world. She described him as "the essence of what it is to be a public lawyer." His family remembered him as a man of unique curiosity and an "old-school orator" who had a mischievous sense of humor and the rare gift of making anyone he spoke with feel like the most important person in the world.
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