John F. Mendoza

John F. Mendoza was a Las Vegas native and longtime Nevada jurist who devoted more than half a century to the law and public service. Born January 13, 1928, in Las Vegas, he attended the University of Notre Dame, where he earned his law degree, graduating cum laude in 1951. Admitted to the Nevada bar that same year, he began his legal career as a Clark County deputy district attorney, going on to serve as a Las Vegas justice of the peace, as city attorney for North Las Vegas, and as Clark County District Attorney.

In 1966 Mendoza was elected to the District Court bench of the Eighth Judicial District, where he served for roughly a quarter century. He is widely credited with reshaping Clark County's juvenile justice system in the 1970s into a model followed across the nation, and he specialized in juvenile matters for much of his tenure. He was one of the founders of CASA, the national court-appointed special advocates program, served as president of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, and helped establish the court interpreter system in Clark County.

After leaving the bench, Mendoza continued in public service as chairman of both the Nevada Public Service Commission and the Nevada Transportation Service Authority, and he was later appointed by the Nevada Supreme Court as an arbitrator and settlement judge. He was named the University of Notre Dame's Man of the Year, and John F. Mendoza Elementary School in Las Vegas was dedicated in his honor. He died November 8, 2011, at the age of 83.