[Kliszewski Picture]

Mark A. Kliszewski

Judge, juvenile team sports coach

by Gene Harubin Zygmont

Mark A. Kliszewski has devoted his life to the welfare of children. As Juvenile Court Referee for the Alameda Superior Court, Judge Mark A. Kliszewski is more interested in straightening out youthful offenders than he is in sentencing them. At all times, he keeps the best interests of the young people at heart, a position which has earned him the respect of both prosecutors and defenders.

Judge Kliszewski has always enjoyed working with children and spends 20 to 30 hours weekly coaching both boys and girls in various sports - softball, baseball, soccer, football, basketball. In 1986, the City of Piedmont honored him as the Outstanding Volunteer for his work with the youth of the city and, in 1991, he received the Service to Youth Award from the Piedmont Council, Boy Scouts of America and the Sidney C. Singer family, founders of the award.

He was born to Gena (Sasjanska) and Zbigniew Kliszewski on April 19, 1949, in Overton, Wales, Great Britain, where the Kliszewski family had moved after being liberated from German prison camps. When he was three years old, the family emigrated to Los Angeles. Both parents became very active in the Polish Community, especially in the areas of Scouting (Harcerze) and the Polish School in Los Angeles and, doubtless, this family emphasis on Service to the community made an indelible impression on him.

In 1970, he graduated from Santa Clara University with a B.A. in History and, in 1973, earned a degree in Law from the Hastings College of Law. After graduation, he joined an Oakland firm specializing in insurance defense but found he had little interest in trying insurance cases. He then opened his own law firm in San Leandro, where he handled plaintiffs' personal injury, criminal, juvenile, and family cases and continued personal practice until 1985 when he accepted the position as Juvenile Court Referee at the Alameda Superior Court.

Judge Kliszewski lives in Piedmont with his wife, Nancy and their 11 year old daughter, Michelle. Another daughter, Kristina, and son, Matthew, attend colleges in the East but join the family at holidays and during the summer.

From: Polish Americans in California, vol. II. National Center for Urban Ethnic Affairs & Polish American Historical Association. California 1995.