MAYA B. Kara, one of the prominent members of the local legal community, passed away Friday at her Capital Hill home, surrounded by loved ones.
Kara, 76, served as an acting attorney general, a legal counsel to the governor, the lt. governor and the CNMI Legislature. She was a former president of the NMI Bar Association, and an administrative hearing officer for the CNMI Department of Labor and the NMI Retirement Fund.
She and her husband, attorney Bruce Mailman, are known experts in U.S. immigration matters.
“She will always be remembered in the CNMI as a dedicated attorney who handled hundreds of complicated cases and succeeded,” Mailman said in an interview.
During the past few months before she died, she was still doing high quality work, Mailman said.
“She was brilliant and lived an unusual life. She was very good in persuading people to consider her point of view…. She was also a generous spirit. All the time she was ill, she never expressed fear…. Some people might express anxiety, but she never did.”
“We’ve been together for 43 years,” Mailman added. “It’s hard to summarize the gist of my experience with her. I am a person who lives by words and I cannot find the right ones now…. Our family is small but very close. We are all devastated.” The couple have two children, Lila and Brian.
A few weeks before her passing, Kara called the funeral home to make her own funeral arrangements, Mailman said.
“She did not like a memorial service. She chose the services plan and a simple cremation. She did not want any fuss.”
Mailman said there will be an hour-long public viewing Wednesday, Dec. 1, 2021 at 9 a.m. at the Borja Funeral Home before the cremation.
“To friends and families, instead of sending flowers please make a contribution to the Commonwealth Cancer Association,” Mailman said. “They were very helpful and did a lot of work with us,” he added.
Kara and Mailman first arrived on Saipan in February 1989. Kara worked as counsel for the CNMI House of Representatives before becoming chief legal counsel of the Legislature.
Kara then served as acting CNMI attorney general during the first two years of Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio’s third term, and later became his legal counsel.
When former Speaker Diego T. Benavente became lt. governor in 2002, Kara served as his legal counsel.
Kara grew up in Hungary, but she and her family fled to the West after the Soviet Union crushed an uprising against the pro-USSR Communist government of Hungary in 1956.
“She worked tirelessly for the CNMI,” Micronesian Legal Services Corporation directing attorney Jane Mack said. “I am sad about her death. She…and her law partner-spouse Bruce Mailman…helped [people] understand the law during the transition to U.S. immigration. [She] was dedicated and full of integrity.”
Maya Kara
