Phillip Michael Morris

Phillip Morris, 90, devoted son, husband, father, step-father, grandfather, great grandfather, teacher, civic leader, and distinguished jurist, passed away peacefully on Monday evening, May 11, 2026, soon after suffering a tragic fall in his home.

Phillip, son of the late Emanuel and Wilma Morris, was born in Bell, California, but considered the city of Needles, California, his hometown, where his family moved in 1942 when his father was employed as a railroad conductor for the Santa Fe Railroad.

Life in this small, remote desert town gifted Phil a love of adventure — in the great outdoors and in organized sports. He and his younger brother, Pat, and sister, Nancy, learned to swim, canoe, fish, and eventually water ski in the fast, swirling waters of the mighty Colorado River and to explore and hunt in the vast outback of the Eastern Mojave. In high school, Phil played every sport and quarterbacked the football team.

This blue-collar railroad community also stamped upon Phil respect for hard work, creativity, and independence. To save money for college, Phil and his brother formed a working partnership mowing lawns, cleaning and selling used bricks, peddling soft drinks to soldiers on troop trains headed for the Korean War, working long hours as ice handlers at the Santa Fe Ice Plant, and eventually, through college and graduate school, spending every summer “working the rails” as a railroad fireman and brakeman.

Phil enrolled at San Bernardino Valley College in 1953 and, upon completion of his AA degree, he teamed with his brother, Pat, as roommates at the University of Redlands, where he was active in intramural sports and the Kappa Sigma Sigma fraternity. Graduating with an English major, Phil began his teaching and coaching career at Highland Jr. High and moved on to teach at San Gorgonio High in San Bernardino. He continued his graduate education at USC, where he received his general secondary counseling credential.

While attending the University of Redlands, Phil met and fell in love with Donna Van Osdel. They were married in 1958 and, in the years that followed, were blessed with three handsome sons, Michael, Dan, and Kevin. Though their marriage would eventually end, they shared a life-long, deep bond and mutual respect.

Phil loved teaching, however in 1966 Phil decided to take on a new academic and career challenge, law school. He enrolled in the evening program at Loyola University Law School in Los Angeles, and for the next four years, he taught high school and commuted to LA in the evenings for law classes. Graduating in 1970, Phil partnered, once again, with his brother Pat. This time in a civil law litigation practice, Morris and Morris. After Pat was appointed to the bench In 1976, Phil joined the San Bernardino County Public Defender’s office as a senior trial deputy, where he practiced until, once again, he joined with his brother, when he too was appointed to the bench in 1983 by Governor Jerry Brown.

It was in the year 1976 that Phil fell in love with the love of his life, Judy Kennedy, and her two young sons, Steven and Jeff. Fifty years ago, they were married in a family ceremony on a sand hill above a desert cabin built by the family on Lake Mojave, Arizona. Their unforgettable wedding night was spent, with coyotes howling, in a small camping tent deep in a canyon overlooking the lake. Their exciting first night foretold of a marriage filled with great love and adventures galore shared with their five boys and the extended family— swimming, scuba diving, basketball and baseball games, ping pong matches, water skiing, snow skiing, and, in retirement, traveling the world.

Lifelong Phil loved humor and, though he was not a “class clown”, he intuitively knew that shared laughter builds a common bond and trust and promotes problem solving, so he used it daily, at home, in teaching, and in his law office. But it was on the bench that he used his sense of humor most effectively to make his courtroom a comfortable space to educate lawyers, litigants, and jurors, and settle cases. That special talent was recognized statewide when he was invited to teach his “case settlement strategies” to judicial colleagues at the California Judicial College at the University of California. Annually, student judges rated his course as “Excellent,” and he was recognized by the California Trial Lawyers “For Outstanding Contributions to the Administration of Justice.”

Phil is survived by his wife, Judy, and his son Kevin of Highland, his stepsons, Steven (Lisa) of Marina del Rey and Jeff of Highland, his grandchildren, Adam and Erin, Chelsea, Shelby, and Lauren, seven great grandchildren, his brother, Pat, and many loving nieces and nephews.

A memorial service for Phil will be held on Saturday, June 20th, at 10:00am at the Mt. View Mortuary, 570 E. Highland Ave., San Bernardino. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to World Central Kitchen or Ocean Conservancy.