Bert M. Goldwater

Bert M. Goldwater was a distinguished Nevada attorney and jurist who spent most of his life in Reno. He attended schools in Reno, studied for three years at Stanford University, and returned to graduate from the University of Nevada, Reno, in 1936. He earned his law degree from the University of Colorado in 1939, where he served as Editor of the Rocky Mountain Law Review, and was admitted to the Nevada Bar that same year.

Over a legal career spanning more than six decades, Goldwater practiced both civil and criminal law and became a respected figure in the state's legal community. He was appointed a United States Bankruptcy Judge in October 1979 and retired from the bench in 1982, after which he joined the law firm of Lionel, Sawyer and Collins, practicing privately for more than a decade. In October 1994, he was recalled to serve again as a U.S. Bankruptcy Judge by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, a role he held until his death.

Goldwater gave extensively of his time to the profession and to public service. He served as President of the Washoe County Bar Association, as Secretary and Chairman of the State Board of Bar Examiners, and as Chairman of the National Conference of Bar Examiners. A committed defender of civil liberties, he served as the first chairman of Nevada's Equal Rights Commission and sat on the Nevada State Gaming Commission. He died on May 3, 2006.