This In Remembrance section lists WSBA members by Bar number and date of death. The list is not complete and contains only those notices of which the WSBA has learned through correspondence from members. When available, obituaries are linked below.
Please email notices and requests to link obituaries to wabarnews@wsba.org.
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WSBA Governor, 2002-2005
Andrea Brenneke
#22027, 3/3/2023
Andrea Brenneke was born on April 19, 1965, in Seattle, to parents Heida and Warren Brenneke. She attended the University of Washington and then Harvard Law School, where she graduated with honors in 1992. Brenneke dedicated her legal career to civil rights activist work and restorative justice principles.
One of her most well-known cases came in 2010, when as an attorney with MacDonald Hoague & Bayless she represented the family of John T. Williams, a Native American carver who was killed by a Seattle police officer. Brenneke applied restorative principles to help bring about a positive and healing resolution in the case, one part of which was a totem pole honoring John T. Williams’ life, carved on the Seattle waterfront by members of the Williams family and other Native artists. The totem pole was permanently installed near the Space Needle, where it stands today. The Williams case also sparked a process of ongoing reform at the Seattle Police Department.
Brenneke later served as Seattle’s first Director of Restorative Justice and also co-founded a nonprofit called Seattle Restorative Justice. For the five years prior to her death, she worked as an assistant attorney general. There, with her colleagues, she won a major wage discrimination case against the private company that runs the Northwest Detention Center. Brenneke also served on the WSBA Board of Governors from 2002 to 2005.
Because of her dedication to civil rights work, Brenneke posthumously received the Thurgood Marshall Award from Mothers for Police Accountability in November 2023.
Brenneke was described as warm and magnetic, a loving and engaged mother, a fierce litigator, and someone who always sought to find compassionate resolutions. Brenneke and her husband, Dan Clarkson, met in college and began dating in law school in 1989. Together they had two daughters, AnaLucia and Ariana. Brenneke is also survived by her mother, Heida, and her brother, Russ.
WSBA Governor, 2004-2007
Lonnie G. Davis
#5091, 11/16/2023
Lonnie G. Davis was born on Dec. 12, 1947, in Kellog, Idaho. He attended high school in Sacramento and earned his undergraduate degree from the University of California, Davis. After college, he moved to Spokane and attended Gonzaga University School of Law, graduating with his J.D. in 1973. Davis married his wife, Patricia, in 1973, and in 1992 the couple adopted their son, John, with whom Davis had a close relationship.
Davis dedicated the bulk of his career to disability rights. He worked with the Legal Services office in Everett before joining the faculty of the University of Puget Sound (now Seattle University) School of Law, where he taught courses and directed the Disability Law Project, which later became part of the Alliance of People With disAbilities. In addition, Davis was involved in numerous groups and organizations, including the Governor’s Committee on Disabilities Law Issues and Employment, the Disability Subcommittee of the Access to Justice Board’s Justice Without Barriers Committee, the Washington Supreme Court’s Minority and Justice Commission, and the Washington Coalition of Citizens with Disabilities. In 2006, he helped create a report called “Ensuring Equal Access for People with Disabilities: A Guide for Washington Courts,” published in full on the court’s website and in part in the August 2006 issue of Washington State Bar News.
Davis also volunteered often with the WSBA. He served on the WSBA Board of Governors from 2004 to 2007 and served on many former WSBA committees and boards, including the Committee for Diversity, the Civil Rights Committee, and the Access to Justice Conference Planning Committee. He was also a member of the Civil Rights Law Section Executive Committee from 2013 to 2016. In 2010, Davis received the Norm Maleng Award, given jointly by the WSBA and the Access to Justice Board, in honor of the late King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng’s legacy as a leader.
Davis was described as exceptionally intelligent and creative, with a wry sense of humor. Outside of work, he was engaged in the arts community—he enjoyed collecting science and fantasy art and represented practicing artists.
Paul Arons, #47599, 10/14/2023
Mary Barbieri, #6246, 10/29/2023
Dione Hauger, #25104, 12/9/2023
Jon Jonsson, #312, 11/18/2022
Rocky Lindell, #1271, 11/15/2023
Robert Meals, #19990, 11/30/2023
Jeffrey Needle, #6346, 11/8/2023
Mary Pfaff-Pierce, #8679, 11/25/2023
John Rinehart Jr., #4357, 11/13/2023
Frank Siderius, #7759, 11/18/2023
Mark Vovos, #4474, 11/7/2023
Terry Wechsler, #46925, 7/6/2023