Daisy Richards Bisz, 97, Lawyer since '37, earned five judgments against Castro
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Daisy Richards Bisz, one of the state's first female lawyers and a
former attorney for baseball great Ted Williams, has died of heart
failure. She was 97.
Bisz passed the state bar exam in 1937 -- without a college degree --
and also served three terms as the secretary of the Dade Bar
Association.
''The law was everything to her. She loved the law,'' said niece Gail
Talucci, 71.
Born in Missouri in 1909, Bisz survived a bout with polio as an
infant. Her father, the Rev. A. E. Gammage, founded Miami's Riverside
Baptist Church.
She enrolled in the Pan American College of Commerce but soon dropped
out because she couldn't afford the $90 tuition fee.
She studied briefly at the South Florida College of Law but studied
mostly on her own. She passed the bar on the first try.
Bisz mostly practiced probate law and was certified to practice before
the U.S. Supreme Court and the Court of Military Appeals.
She also earned five judgments against Cuban leader Fidel Castro on
behalf of people whose property had been seized after he took power in
1959.
Bisz also represented the Florida Retail Grocers and Associated
Grocers, where she met a stockholder named Ted Williams. Williams, the
Boston Red Sox legend, became a good friend, even inviting her to his
Hall of Fame induction.
In 2000, she was honored by the Florida Supreme Court as one of the
state's first 150 female lawyers. A book about the honorees devotes
four pages to her.
Her signature saying: ``The law is a jealous mistress, and you'd
better love it or leave it.''
Bisz practiced until she was 90 years old.
She was also an avid fisher and played church piano music, even after
a doctor had to reattach her left hand after an auto accident in 1954.
Her first husband, John A. Richards, died in 1951. Her second, Leonard
Bisz, also passed away. Daisy Bisz is survived by a sister, Charlotte
Johnson, 95, and a dozen nieces and nephews.
A viewing will be held today at Caballero Rivero Woodlawn, 3344 SW
Eighth St., between 5 and 7:30 p.m. Her funeral will be held at the
chapel next door at 2 p.m. Monday.
BY DAVID OVALLE
billy...@aol.com
We will miss you Aunt Daisy. We will allways love you. Kiss my mom &
dad and tell them we love them too.