RLACEI Submitted by Beverly J. Clark, Publicity Director
Michael Karsch
RLACEI Board Member
Michael retired from the City of Los Angeles in 2007 after completing a little more than 31 years of City service. He joined the City in 1976, in the Chief Legislative Analyst’s (CLA) office, where he spent all of his City service.
Prior to working for the City, Michael worked for Security Pacific Bank in the legal department as its first Legislative Analyst. Since he did not finish law school, he searched for a job similar to what he did when he was employed at Security Pacific. The City of LA’s CLA office looked like a good fit.
Upon retiring in 2007, Michael was invited to work with the consulting firm of Ken Spiker, Sr. Ken Spiker Sr. encouraged him to join RLACEI and to serve on the Board. He chose to contribute by writing a column in the ACEBSA newsletter El Pueblo and then later Alive! His subject matter is retirement issues, mostly looking at the financial side of government pensions in the United States.
Michael was born and raised in rural Missouri. He left Missouri for California and began at the University of California at Berkeley in 1962. He was in the Air Force ROTC, graduating in 1966 with a commission. For four-and-a-half years, he was assigned as a special agent in the Office of Special Investigations (OSI). He was assigned to Walker Air Force Base in Roswell, New Mexico, then El Paso, Texas (Biggs AFB), then Kadena Air Base in Okinawa. Eventually he made it back to Pasadena.
His next step was marriage – he found a great lady, Virginia, to whom he remains very happily married. He says, “Her five children are fantastic, as is our goddaughter. What could be better? It is a good life. We enjoy socializing at a formal dinner dance club. My hobby at home is helping my wife in the garden every day for hours. Once we begin gardening, it’s more gardening and more gardening!”
