In Memoriam: Robert Allan Mautino
Robert Allan Mautino died June 26, 2020 after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease.
Bob was born in Los Angeles, California, the grandson of Swedish and Italian immigrants. As a child and young man, he loved studying languages and streetcars and trains—as a three year-old, he would panic his mother by standing on the car seat to watch the streetcars as his mother drove around town—there were no seatbelts in cars in the 1930s. In high school, Bob studied all the languages he could, something he continued as long as he was able. Eventually, he became fluent in nine languages—English, Spanish, French, Italian, German, Finnish, Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish. He constantly picked up phrases from his international clients in other languages, which he would spout at the first opportunity.
Bob joined the Foreign Service after graduating from UCLA, studying for a year at the University of Geneva, Switzerland, and while working on his master’s degree at UC Berkley. His first posting was Helsinki, Finland, where he served until shortly after President Kennedy was shot. One of the few Foreign Service officers able to read and speak Finnish, Bob was transferred to Washington, DC, where he prepared intelligence reports on Finnish and Scandinavian regional politics. His last posting was Tijuana, Mexico, where he received a medal for identifying and gathering sufficient documentation to prosecute a marriage fraud ring. Upon leaving the State Department, Bob swore to himself he would never work on another visa matter as long as he lived.
Bob left the Foreign Service in 1967 and moved across the border to San Diego. He worked for AT&T during the day and went to law school at night. After passing the bar, Bob set about finding a legal career, working for a short time in a general practice firm in Los Angeles, and then joining the faculty of California Western School of Law. The school allowed faculty to take private clients, and Bob discovered that his knowledge of immigration law was useful. Eventually, Bob left Cal Western and opened an immigration practice with former INS Agent Neil “Beastly” Baxley.
Bob joined AILA in the 1970s, when the organization was known as ANIL—American Nationality and Immigration Lawyers. Bob served in numerous roles for AILA, including Chapter Chair of the Southern California Chapter, founder of the San Diego Chapter, and Board of Governors member. He was notorious for travelling to conferences and meetings by train, no matter how circuitous the route. Bob famously missed one Board of Governor’s meeting when the train broke down in the small town of Seligman, Arizona. In an infamous letter to then-Director Warren Leiden, Bob remarked that he spoke to the residents of Seligman about opening an AILA chapter and “both of them thought it was a good idea.” In 2005, he received the Edith Lowenstein Memorial Award, something he was very proud of.
Bob’s practice included all areas of immigration law, but he had a particular passion for derivative citizenship cases. He also had a thirst for seeing justice done. Bob was one of several attorneys representing Filipino World War II veterans who were denied naturalization because of racial fears in the 1940s and 1950s. One of his cases went to the Supreme Court: INS v. Pangilinan. The Supreme Court ruled against the veterans, but the attention caused Congress to change the law and grant the veterans US citizenship.
When Bob was not working, he loved visiting and hiking in Yellowstone National Park. Bob first went there when he was 16 years old—kidnapped, he said, by his parents, when all he wanted to do was spend time with his girlfriend in Los Angeles. His mother forced him to get a job in the Park—he worked as a dishwasher at the Old Faithful Inn. Something about the experience clicked, because the next year he was back, eventually rising through the ranks to bellhop. Bob worked 6 summers in the Park, earning enough money to pay for college. In 1959, Bob convinced his fiancée to join him working in Yellowstone, and they were present for one of the largest earthquakes to hit the region in recorded history. Bob always claimed responsibility for causing the earthquake, since it happened on his birthday, and just a few minutes after he gave the following toast: “To this glorious summer, may it end soon!”
Bob is survived by his wife of almost 59 years, Virginia, and his children, Kathrin and Robert. In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to the Alzheimer’s Association of San Diego, www.alzsd.org or the Museum of the Yellowstone, https://museumoftheyellowstone.org/