Susan M. Trager

CORNWALL BRIDGE — Susan M. Trager died March 22, 2011, at her home in Laguna Beach, Calif.She was a longtime water and environmental attorney, who for 30 years represented property owners, public agencies and municipalities across California. Ms. Trager, who recently described herself as a “behind-the-scenes” lawyer, rarely made headlines with her work. In one of her most prominent cases, she won a $43.2 million jury verdict for the owner of land condemned by a water agency to build a Riverside County reservoir. The judge in the case increased the award to $50 million.Born Sept. 11, 1947, in New York City, Ms. Trager was raised in Cornwall Bridge. She attended Cornwall Consolidated School and Houstonic Valley Regional High School. She earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism at the University of Colorado, Boulder, in 1970, and a law degree from Golden Gate University School of Law in San Francisco in 1973.Ms. Trager began her legal career in Nevada, where she founded Nevada Indian Legal Services Inc. to provide representation for the state’s tribal groups, and served as a deputy attorney general for the state of Nevada. She later joined the practice of seasoned water rights lawyer Donald M. Stark in Irvine and represented the city of Los Angeles in the Owens Valley and Mono Lake water disputes.Over the course of her career, Ms. Trager devoted herself to mentoring young lawyers and public officials, as well as educating journalists in the complexities of water and environmental law.Ms. Trager was planning to move her practice to the Irvine law firm of Aleshire & Wynder, which specializes in municipal and environmental law, zoning, redevelopment and land use. Ms. Trager is survived by her sister, Nanette Trager-Fuellenkemper, and her husband, Horst Fuellenkemper, of East Sussex, England; her sister, Laurie Trager, and her husband, Robert Morrin, of Berlin, Conn.; her brother, Frank R. Trager and his wife, Caryn, of Norfolk; her brother, Philip Trager, and his wife, Theresa Vollet, also of Norfolk; her nieces, Hannah and Jessica Fuellenkemper, Madeleine Morrin and Nevada Trager; her nephews Robert and Connor Morrin; and her cat, P.M. Members of the water district and the Laguna Beach City Council, including longtime friend Councilwoman Elizabeth Pearson, are in the process of organizing a celebration of life for Ms. Trager. Private family services will be held in Connecticut.In lieu of flowers, family and friends have asked that donations be made in Ms. Trager’s name to the Little Guild of Saint Francis in West Cornwall, a shelter that finds homes for abandoned and unwanted pets. Go to www.littleguild.org.