Safran motivated by ‘desire to do justice’
Attorney took on civil rights cases
Milwaukee attorney Jonathan Safran became a household name in 2004 for representing police beating victim Frank Jude.
What many people don’t know is that he stayed in touch with Jude in the years since, long after the case was over. The two sometimes talked more than once a week, often for 45 minutes or an hour.
“He was originally going to be a psychologist,” Safran’s wife, Dawn, said Tuesday. “The way he handled clients, I would joke with him, ‘You should have gone into that field, because that’s what you do for them.’ ”
Safran also remained close with the Hamilton family, who retained him after Dontre Hamilton died at the hands of a police officer in 2014.
“Jon was someone I could call at any time of the day and talk to about what we were going through as a family,” said Dontre’s brother, Nate Hamilton. “You’re giving someone the opportunity to get over depression, to get over the situation, by being a listening ear. Jon provided that to my family and many more.” Two years ago, when Nate and Dontre’s father was dying of cancer, Safran was there to help them through it. He never told the Hamiltons that he, too, was suffering from the disease.
Safran died of cancer Monday. He was 62.
A desire to do justice
Safran met his wife-to-be at Paul Harding High School in Fort Wayne, Indiana. She was 16; he was 17. She followed him to Indiana University and they married during his second year of law school there.
Safran’s mother was worried about him choosing law, his wife said, because she didn’t think he had a big enough ego to be successful.
“What he lacked in ego, he made up with in work ethic and the desire to do justice,” Dawn Safran said. “That guided his moral compass. Just to do the right thing.”
The couple settled in Milwaukee because they wanted to remain in the Mid
west and loved all the outdoor activities Wisconsin had to offer, she said. They camped often with their children, Hannah and Ethan.
The family eventually got a trailer in Door County, where Ethan recalled spending a long weekend with his dad, just the two of them, in fall 2017. They stained a new deck, talked and just hung out.
“He was such a low-key guy. He needed very little to be content,” Ethan Safran said. “Camping, just sitting outside of our trailer in Door County, brought him a lot of pleasure.”
Ethan, now 26, was 11 when the Jude case made news and his dad showed up on TV.
“At the time, I was kind of awed by it,” he said. “Now I'm kind of awed, too, in retrospect, seeing him as this powerful presence. I was always proud.”
Civil rights cases
Safran became Jerome A. Konkel's law partner in 2002, joining the Milwaukee firm now known as Samster, Konkel & Safran.
“He had the ability to, deep down, look at somebody and say, ‘You need help,' and he just dug in,” Konkel said. “Whoever it was, if Jon saw that they had a case that needed to be taken care of, he took care of it. And that was taking care of the person.”
Safran was patient and methodical, his partner said.
“He tried to let the system run its course. He didn't try to get in the way,” Konkel said. “Jon's predilection was to let the professionals handle themselves and then step in when things got off track.”
In the Jude case, Safran stepped in by providing photographs of Jude, beaten and bruised in a hospital bed, to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Seven Milwaukee police officers were eventually convicted in the case. Jude ultimately received a $2 million settlement from the city.
Safran, along with attorney Robin Shellow and the People's Law Office of Chicago, also represented the family of Derek Williams, who died in Milwaukee police custody in 2011. The city settled that civil rights case for $2 million.
The Hamilton family's lawsuit resulted in a settlement of $2.3 million.
“He was especially proud of his civil rights practice, and what I called his pro bono work,” Safran's wife said. “He took hundreds of calls over the years on his cellphone: Evenings, weekends, holidays, vacation. He would answer the call, grab a pen and paper, listen, answer questions.”
She recalled that Safran always ended those conversations by saying: “You have my cell number. Let me know if there's anything else I can do. Best of luck to you.”
Nate Hamilton will miss those calls. “It's a great loss to the practice of law here in Milwaukee,” Hamilton said of Safran's death. “Jon was a big part of civil rights cases and working with those families that were looking for justice. Now with him gone, I think that's going to be some large shoes to fill.”
In addition to his wife and children, Safran is survived by his brother Dan (Cindy), niece Samantha and father Richard. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, his memorial service will be for family only. In lieu of flowers, his family requests donations to the MequonThiensville Education Foundation.