We dedicate this issue of Sacramento Lawyer to Bion M. Gregory, who passed away unexpectedly on September 8 at the age of 64. Bion’s professional accomplishments are well known. He served as Legislative Counsel of California for 25 of the 90 years that the office has been in existence, a record that may never be broken. In 2001, the year Bion retired and moved into private practice, he oversaw the drafting of more than 8,600 bills, 11,000 sets of amendments, and 600 opinions by his staff of 75 lawyers.

Bio Gregory met with President Clinton at the White House in July 1997.

These statistics, though impressive, hardly begin to describe Bion. We will always remember Bion’s good humor and uncommon decency. The crowd that filled Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic Church to its capacity for his funeral provided ample evidence that Bion was a man with a big heart who touched a huge number of people.

We will also remember Bion for his pride in being a part of the legal profession and his belief in the legal system. Looking back at the columns that Bion authored for Sacramento Lawyer during his SCBA presidency in 2003, one cannot help but be struck by Bion’s commitment to the highest ideals of our profession. At a time when the legal system is frequently under siege by people who neither understand nor value its highest traditions, Bion championed that system and expressed his pride in being a lawyer. Excerpts from some of Bion’s columns are reprinted in this issue to remind us of the ideals for which Bion stood. Excerpts from eulogies by Charity Kenyon and Bob Sullivan are also included in this issue as a representative sampling of how the legal community valued Bion.

Bion Gregory was born in Sacramento in 1940. He attended Grant Union High School and then received his undergraduate degree from Stanford University. After college, he served as a communications officer for the Navy during the early days of the Vietnam War. Bion earned his law degree in 1968 from Hastings College of the Law. He served for five years as chief counsel for the Senate Judiciary Committee before becoming legislative counsel in 1976. In 2001, Bion left the Legislature and became a partner at Nossaman Guthner Knox & Elliott.

The SCBA extends its condolences to Bion’s wife, Patty Gregory.