While in private practice he served as city attorney for seven cities: Buena Park, Placentia, La Puente, Baldwin Park, Santa Fe Springs, Walnut and Rosemead.
Ferguson's judicial career began in 1959 when he was appointed an Orange County Municipal Court judge in Anaheim. Two years later he was named to the Orange County Superior Court, and in 1966 Ferguson was nominated to the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California by President Johnson.
As a federal judge Ferguson handed a defeat to government attorneys in a Watergate-related matter when he dismissed a 1976 case against Frank DeMarco, the former tax attorney for President Nixon. Ferguson indicated that the conduct of the government had deprived DeMarco of a fair trial.
"He had a high respect for the law and especially respected precedent," said William A. Norris, a former judge who served with Ferguson on the 9th Circuit for 17 years and is now in private practice. "While he had personal views that could fairly be described as liberal, he would not hesitate to decide a case contrary to the way he would have liked to have decided it."
Over the years Ferguson, who held doctor of law degrees from Western State College of Law and San Fernando Valley College of Law, also taught at several colleges. He was an active judge until 1986, when he took senior status.
In addition to his son, Ferguson is survived by a daughter, Faye Ferguson of Corona, and four grandchildren. His wife, Laura Keyes Ferguson, died in 2005. A son, Jack Ferguson, died in Vietnam in 1970, and a daughter, Teresa Ferguson, died in 2001.
A private memorial service was held Tuesday. Memorial donations may be made to the Judge Warren J. Ferguson Public Interest Summer Fellowship, at the USC Gould School of Law, 699 Exposition Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90089.
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jocelyn.stewart@latimes.com
