Necrology

Graydon Shaw Staring '46

Apr. 9, 1923-Jul. 25, 2019

Graydon Shaw Staring ’46, an attorney of Oakland, Calif., was born on April 9, 1923, in Deansboro, N.Y., a son of the former Eleanor Shaw and William Staring. He graduated from Waterville (N.Y.) High School.

Like so many alumni of his era, Staring’s education was interrupted by the Second World War. He served as an officer in the U.S. Navy and remained in the Reserves, retiring as a commander. His service gave rise to a lifelong love of ships and things maritime.

Staring, who completed his degree requirements in 1947, majored in mathematics, trouped with the Charlatans, and was a member of Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity. He remained on College Hill for a year after graduation to work as a public speaking instructor.

Determined to relocate to warmer climes, Staring obtained a J.D. from the University of California at Berkeley in 1951. It was there where he met his future wife, the former Joyce Allum-Poon, a student from Trinidad. They were married in 1949, less than a year after the California Supreme Court struck down the state’s anti-miscegenation law, which would have prohibited their union, the obituary noted.

Staring worked for the Justice Department for eight years and then joined the San Francisco law firm of Lillick, McHose & Charles (now Nixon Peabody LLP), where he mentored young lawyers and developed an international reputation in maritime law and marine insurance. He served as president of the Maritime Law Association of the United States, was a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, and argued appeals, including before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Active in his community, Staring ­completed a term as president and later director of the Legal Aid Society of San Francisco, served on the city’s lawyers committee for urban affairs, and represented the mayor on the San ­Francisco-Shanghai friendship committee.

Long passionate about writing, Staring served as editor of American Maritime Cases, authored a treatise on reinsurance, and published many articles, including some while he was in his 90s. His love of words and books began at a young age; in retirement he took up bookbinding and collecting books, most for donation to libraries.

Staring once remarked on the College’s influence on his life for his 50th reunion yearbook, “Schools may brainwash students in favor of their own ways of life and learning. If so, I have been happily and permanently brainwashed to revere the demands and gifts of the liberal arts, the civility of our student life, and the intimacy of students and faculty, all of which still prevail on the Hill.”

Staring, who long served his alma mater by hosting events and taking leadership roles in fundraising campaigns by serving as class gift chair and reunion gift chair, died on July 25, 2019. He was 96 and is survived by his wife, a daughter, a son, and eight grandchildren.

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