Alumni

Class of 1967
Hall of Honor 1993

Michael W. Monk was born in Grand Island at the old St. Francis Hospital on February 21, 1949. He graduated first in his class from Grand Island Senior High in 1967, after two years as Sports Editor of the Islander and serving as President of Student Council his Senior year. 

He did his undergraduate studies at Harvard College, graduating in 1971 with Honors in English Literature. He wrote his Senior Honors Thesis on Charles Dickens. While at Harvard, he was Sports Editor of the Harvard radio station, WHRB, and interviewed such notable athletes as Boston Celtic Bill Russell and Milwaukee Buck Lew Alcindor. During his senior year, Mr. Monk was also the color announcer on the Harvard Football Radio Broadcasts.  

Mr. Monk studied law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School in Philadelphia, and he graduated earning his J.D. degree in 1974. He practiced law for two years in Boston in the General Counsel’s office of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, where he helped shut down nursing homes providing poor care. In 1976, Monk and his family moved to Los Angeles. 

In 1976, he joined the Los Angeles law firm of Musick Peeler & Garrett and began practicing management labor law, which he does to this day. His practice involves representing employers not only in union negotiations, but also in all aspects of labor and employment law. He has successfully represented such clients as Gene Autry, Mr. Autry’s radio stations, the California Angels, Denny’s Restaurants, the American Broadcasting Company, the San Diego Padres, Vulcan Materials Company, many Southern California Hospitals, and many regional centers that serve developmentally disabled persons. In 1984 and 1985, Mr. Monk also taught law school. He was Adjunct Professor at Loyola University Law School in Los Angeles, teaching a course in employment law, and the beginning course in Labor Law. 

In 1990, Mr. Monk was part of a group of 15 Southern Californians, headed by Monk’s Harvard roommate, Tom Werner, who purchased the San Diego Padres. Monk and his wife Janet were minority owners until 1998. During this time, Monk served on the Baseball Operations Committee, the Board of Directors, and served as labor counsel for the Padres. Mr. Monk continued his law practice during this entire period. 

Mr. Monk has also been active in other pursuits while practicing law. He was a Board Member of the Los Angeles Constitutional Rights Foundation. He also served as General Counsel to the Cardin School of Santa Monica while the school was owned and run by his wife Janet Bogle. He also has served as General Counsel to Mt. Level and Big Oak farms in Southeastern Missouri, since he and his wife took over the operation of the family farms in 2008.         

In late 2012, Mr. Monk had his first play published, a five act tragedy in the style of Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Orenthal, Prince of Brentwood.” The book was awarded an Independent Publisher Book Gold Medal for Independent Voice in 2014. It is available on Amazon, and Barnes and Noble. In 2014, Monk and his wife Janet Elaine Bogle, a Wellesley College graduate, will celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary. They have two children, James Monk and Susannah Galiano, and two grandchildren, Victoria Galiano and Leonardo Galiano.