After the report yesterday of the passing of Retired Workers’ Compensation Judge Samuel L. Sosna Jr. we are saddened to learn of the passing of yet two additional members of our Southern California Workers’ Compensation community.

Jack Paul Koszdin, the founding partner of the applicant’s firm of Koszdin, Fields Sherry and Katz in Van Nuys California passed away on Sunday, August 24, 2014. There will be a memorial service this Wednesday, August 27, 2014 at 10:00 a.m. at Mt. Sinai Cemetery in the Chapel Tanach. The California State Bar website provides the following tribute to Jack.

Born in 1931, Jack Koszdin grew up in Chicago, a child of Russian Jewish immigrants. As a young man, he moved to California and attended UCLA for his undergraduate degree and his J.D. Admitted to the California State Bar in 1955, Jack Koszdin dedicated his professional life to securing the rights of injured workers throughout California, which he championed through the law, through the classroom and through broadcast media.

Jack strongly supported workers’ union rights, serving as a founding member of VELPEC. He was legal advisor to the Valley Labor Political Education Council and co-hosted the Union Voice radio program.

Jack’s passion for politics lead him to work on numerous political campaigns for democratic candidates throughout his career. He supported such notable leaders as Tom Bradley, Bill Lockyer, Hilda Solis, Loretta Sanchez, and Richard Katz, among many others.

Service to the community has always been a priority to Jack. He has served in leadership positions for such organizations as Red Cross, Child Guidance Clinic, and Valley Hillel. Jack lectured in law at UCLA, the University of West Los Angeles and L.A. Trade Tech. He was a partner in the firm of Levy, Koszdin and Woods before heading the firm of Koszdin and Siegel, which later became Koszdin, Fields, Sherry and Katz, where he remained senior partner until his recent retirement.

It is through the efforts of Jack P. Koszdin and the powerhouse attorneys like him, who over the years have zealously protected some of our state’s most important yet vulnerable members — the laborers — that such landmark cases as Zemke v. Workmen’s Comp. App. Bd. 68 Cal. 2d 794 and Franklin v. Workers’ Comp. Appeals Bd., supra, 79 Cal.App.3d at pp. 237-238 came to be. After almost 60 years in the field of workers’ compensation law, Jack cared deeply for the plight of the injured worker, whose rights and benefits need defending now more than ever.

While Jack’s professional achievements are many, his greatest pride comes in the successes of his children, Shelli, Kari, Kenton, David and Frank, who are all accomplished professionals in their own right. He lived in Burbank, California with his beloved wife of years, Helen Griffin.

We must also report that Workers Compensation Judge Dennis Stach from the Riverside WCAB Passed away on August 7, 2014 in Norco, CA.

Judge Stach graduated from Elmwood Park High School in 1962. He enlisted in the US Air Force where he served as a Pararescue Specialist during the Vietnam era. He went on to undergraduate studies at California State Polytechnic University and then law school at the University of La Verne and became an attorney in 1979 and later served as a Workers’ Compensation judge in Southern California. He retired in 2010 after 25 years of service.

Judge Stach is survived by his sister, Mary Ann Carr, from San Diego; and brother, William Stach, of Streamwood, IL.

The Southern California Workers’ Compensation community will surly miss both of these fine professionals who were well respected and well liked by colleagues.