Chula Vista Renaissance man Mannie Kugler died recently, but not before squeezing every possible ounce of life out of his 92 years. He was many things, but the retired judge was primarily a disciplined and devoted student of life.
He was also a student at Southwestern College for more than 25 years.
Kugler began attending SWC in 1987 when he was 65. He took an array of art classes before discovering that painting was his passion. He became known for his Jackson Pollack-inspired drip paintings and had several exhibitions in the student art gallery, the campus library, his church and the San Diego Art Institute’s Museum of the Living Artist in Balboa Park. Spring 2014 was his final semester.
SWC art gallery director Vallo Riberto was introduced to Kugler in the early 2000s. Riberto said they first met while Kugler was painting in the courtyard.
“Passing through the courtyard, he stopped me and he asked me a question about painting, a technical question,” Riberto said. “And those questions went on for the duration of our relationship.”
Riberto said Kugler was a hard-working artist, always looking for new ideas and eager to improve. There were times, though, that Kugler could be frustrated by Riberto’s suggestions.
“He has this thing about purple, yellow and black,” Riberto said with a laugh. “And I just said, ‘Mannie, you’ve got to give up that purple for a while.’ He just loved using that purple.”
Art instructor Sheila Moran was Kugler’s friend and mentor for 15 years. She said she remembers him as a productive artist who was open to learning and had a genuine personality.
“Anyone he ran into was his best friend,” Moran said. “I really miss him.”
Art was a passion of Kugler’s, but over a lifetime that stretched more than nine decades, he had many.
Born in Los Angeles on April 11, 1922 to Joseph and Rose Thaller Kugler, he was the youngest of four children. Fresh out of high school, he enlisted in the Army and served in World War II. He ascended to the rank of captain. After the war he attended UC Berkeley and earned a BA in political science in 1947. In 1950 he earned a law degree from Berkeley’s Hastings College of Law.
Kugler moved to Chula Vista and got right to work. He became the deputy county counsel of San Diego County in 1953 and served until 1958. From 1958 to 1961 he was the city attorney of Chula Vista and was victorious in his case against the Rohr Aircraft Corp., which was decided in the U.S. Supreme Court in 1961. Later that year he was appointed Municipal Court judge, a position he held until his retirement in 1985.
Kugler was the program chairman of the Chula Vista Rotary Club on Oct. 21, 1960 when President Dwight Eisenhower attended a Rotary Club meeting on a fairway at the San Diego Country Club in Chula Vista and addressed a crowd of more than 25,000.
Kruger’s granddaughter Meris Gomez said he would always laugh telling that story, the brief moment he spoke to Eisenhower. Pointing south, Gomez said, her grandfather could only think to utter a few words: “Do you know that’s Tijuana over there?” The president replied: “I do.”
An ardent outdoorsman, he loved to hike, ride bikes, mountaineer and run. He was one of the first to run across the Coronado Bridge in 1969.
Kugler’s reverence for the outdoors lured him to the Sierra Club, where he volunteered for 30 years. In 1999, the club awarded him the Silver Cup, its highest honor, and then again in 2012, with a Lifetime Achievement Award.
Pat Klaasen, a long-time member of Sierra Club, became friends with Kugler in the early 1980s. Klaasen learned firsthand the extent of Kugler’s love for politics. On a road trip in the early 1990s to the Canyon de Chelly National Monument in northeastern Arizona, Klaasen said Kugler brought information on more than 20 propositions on the ballot of the upcoming San Diego election.
“We debated every single issue, forwards and backwards, until we were all quite sure how we were going to vote on it,” Klaasen said cackling. “I have never been so well prepared for an election.”
In Kugler’s latter years he ushered regularly at the Old Globe Theater and maintained a garden. By day he painted, at night he danced.
Patti Wells was Kugler’s dance instructor. They met in 1994. She remembers how polite and intelligent he was, and also how persistent and comprehensive he was as a dancer. He could waltz, tango, swing, ballroom, jitterbug and salsa, among others forms. Wells said he was loved by many because he was a loving and caring man.
“To me, he is the example for all of us to live by,” Wells said.
Kugler was married to Adele Miller for 45 years. She died in 1993.
Kugler is survived by a son, Drew Kugler, and daughter-in-law Lisa Kalin, daughter Jane Kugler and five grandchildren.
In an exhibition at the student art gallery in the early 2000s, Moran recalled that Kugler had collaborated with SWC students on an installation. There was a card table, a chair and a paintbrush. Kugler’s contributions were two of his illustrious drip paintings, hung on the wall right behind the objects. In the forefront of it all was a sign he made. It read: “Gone Dancing.”