John Richard Sokol

John Richard Sokol was born to Theodore and Elizabeth Sokol on March 15th 1941 in Oswego, New York. He was the third born, and eldest son and ended up being one of 11 children. He came from a proud Irish Catholic Family and through that upbringing as his family moved around the country, he found himself enrolled at St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo California. Southern California in the 1950s was a place still figuring out what it wanted to be. Richard grew up in that environment and chose, early, a path that most people would consider complete on its own: the priesthood. He studied for holy orders, taught at two high schools, and served as chaplain to Spanish-speaking communities in Napa and Lake Counties. That work required patience, cultural fluency, and a genuine orientation toward people in need. Those qualities never left him, even as his path turned sharply.

He left the seminary after earning his Bachelors degree (graduating with high honors) and enrolled at the University of San Francisco, earning a Masters degree in Theology in 1973, then went straight into McGeorge School of Law. Most law students spend those years in classrooms and libraries. Richard Sokol did that and simultaneously held three concurrent roles: Senate Fellow with the California State Senate, Deputy Sheriff with Stanislaus County, and was the first paid legal assistant at the U.S. Attorney’s office in Sacramento.

During those years in his personal life he met and married his first wife Kathleen Byrne and they went on to have three beautiful children, Meghan, Kerry and Michael.

He graduated Law School in 1976 and joined the Sacramento District Attorney’s office, where he stayed for sixteen years. He ran a division. He handled child support enforcement. He worked the cases that don’t make headlines, the ones involving families fracturing under financial pressure, custody disputes, domestic violence, children caught in the middle.

In 1988 his family was nominated for “Family of the Year”, an honor that he held very dear to his heart. The organization who nominated him was also one in which he served for many years, the California Mental Health Association. He deemed that recognition of his family one of the highlights of his life.

By the time he left the DA’s office in 1993, he understood family law not as an academic discipline but as a lived reality for the people who walked through courthouse doors.

He went on to marry his second wife, Leslie Hill and they welcomed a son, Colin into their blended family.

Richard then opened his private law practice and that became his platform for the last chapter of his professional life, and he was eventually appointed as a sworn temporary judge in Sacramento County Superior Court. His stated preference was resolution over litigation, agreements over courtroom battles, keeping costs reasonable for clients who were already under stress. That philosophy tracks directly back to the chaplain in Napa County, sitting with families who had nothing but needed someone in their corner.

Along the way not only did he raise four children, but he also performed as a lead in a stage musical (Paint your wagon), became an avid golfer, a skilled canasta player and accumulated a breadth of experience that no single career title could contain. Priest. Deputy Sheriff. Prosecutor. Judge. Attorney. Father.

Richard built a life in which every chapter informed the next, and the thread running through all of it was a stubborn commitment to showing up for people at their worst moments.

He is survived by his children, Meghan (Melissa), Kerry (Chris), Michael (Ashley), Colin (Cassandra) and collectively their 11 grandchildren, along with his sisters Patricia, Bonnie, Janis and his brothers Geoff, Christopher and Barney.

We know he is in heaven looking over all of us and guiding us in laughter and in love.