Page One

A memorial celebration was held Sunday for Noah Baum, a Berkeley-born lawyer, who died on the evening of May 31. He was 34. 

According to his family, he was watching a basketball game at a sports bar in West Los Angeles when a Jeep Cherokee sped out of control and crashed into the restaurant. Baum was killed instantly and others were critically injured. 

A candlelight vigil was held outside the restaurant the following night to protest the reckless driving in Los Angeles. 

The son of Paul and Willa Baum, Noah grew up in North Berkeley. He attended Oxford School, Martin Luther King Middle School, Berkeley High School and graduated from UC Berkeley in 1990. He went on to receive a law degree from Boalt Hall. Baum was also pursuing a Ph.D. in law and environmental policy in the Boalt Hall doctorate program at the time of his death, and only had to write his dissertation to earn the degree. 

When not studying, Baum could often be found playing basketball at Live Oak Park or at Cal, getting a cup of coffee at Peet’s or working on some environmental issue. Baum especially opposed logging old-growth forests and driving gas-guzzling sports utility vehicles. 

At the time of his death, Baum was a first-year lawyer at the law firm of McDermott, Will & Emory in Los Angeles. He had just won his first jury trial. 

Baum is survived by his mother, Willa Baum; his brothers, Marc, Eric and Brandon; his sisters Rachel Bogard and Anya Baum; an aunt; and seven nieces and nephews. 

Memorial gifts can be made to the Sierra Club, Bay Chapter, Special Gifts, 2530 San Pablo Avenue, Berkeley, 94702.