69 Facts About Henry Friendly

Henry Jacob Friendly was an American jurist who served as a federal circuit judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 1959 to 1986, and as the court's chief judge from 1971 to 1973.

Henry Friendly was born in Elmira, New York, on July 3,1903, the only child of a middle class German-Jewish family.

Henry Friendly was descended from Southern German dairy farmers in Wittelshofen, Bavaria, that had adopted the surname of Freundlich.

Josef Myer Freundlich, Henry Friendly's great-grandfather, was a prosperous farmer whose estate burned down in 1831; after being denied help by his neighbors because he was Jewish, Josef grew affluent from livestock dealing.

Heinrich Freundlich, Henry Friendly's grandfather, immigrated to the United States in 1852 to avoid conscription and anglicised the surname to Henry Friendly.

Henry Friendly progressed to own a carriage factory before the birth of Friendly's father, Myer Friendly, who migrated to Elmira in his youth.

Henry Friendly demonstrated precocious abilities in reading and diction at a young age.

Henry Friendly's mother, Leah Hallo, was a serious and reserved bardolater skilled at contract bridge with an excellent memory.

Henry Friendly was a docile and obedient child who gained a reputation in Elmira for earnest behavior.

Henry Friendly committed himself to reading avidly and enjoyed playing baseball despite being overweight and unathletic.

Henry Friendly lacked dexterity; after puncturing his hand with a pencil, he lost function of his left-hand little finger and contracted a serious case of blood poisoning.

Henry Friendly experienced his first serious exposure to law as a young teenager while serving as an expert witness in a breach of warranty trial.

Henry Friendly made few friends, and the lack of communication with others exacerbated his social awkwardness.

Henry Friendly became a versatile student at the Elmira Free Academy, where he was considered one of the "most brilliant students ever to attend" and once discovered a mathematical error in its trigonometry textbook.

Henry Friendly was chosen to be class valedictorian and editor-in-chief of the academy's newspaper, The Vindex.

When Henry Friendly graduated in 1919, the scores he attained in the New York Regents Examinations were the highest ever recorded.

Henry Friendly enjoyed the intellectual challenges of understanding history, a pursuit reinforced by Harvard's modern approach that emphasized the field's intellectual and political aspects.

Henry Friendly took courses under prominent scholars Charles Homer Haskins, Archibald Cary Coolidge, and Frederick Jackson Turner.

Henry Friendly was exposed to government under president Abbott Lowell, then European diplomatic history under William Langer.

Henry Friendly excelled academically as a young prodigy at Harvard Law School, finishing first in his class all three years.

Henry Friendly quickly drew the attention and praise of its professors, including Thomas Reed Powell, a proponent of legal realism, as well as formalists Samuel Williston and Joseph Beale, and Zechariah Chafee and dean Roscoe Pound.

Under Frankfurter's influence, Henry Friendly grew interested in federal jurisdiction and emerging field of administrative law.

On top of existing commitments to the law review, Henry Friendly was an active member of the Ames Moot Court Competition, where he won the Marshall Prize for its best brief.

In 1927, Henry Friendly graduated from Harvard Law School as class president and the first student in its history to ever earn a LL.

Henry Friendly suggested that Friendly delay the clerkship to remain at Harvard for a fourth year to study, teach, and research for him.

The competing interests of Brandeis, Frankfurter, and Buckner struggled over the future of Henry Friendly's career, quarreling over a life in the academy or in the private practice of law.

Henry Friendly admired the justice's encyclopedic knowledge of the law and held a deep respect for his intellect.

Henry Friendly was willing to sacrifice pay for a career in history, though did not share the same enthusiasm for legal scholarship and declined to be a professor.

Henry Friendly had explored the possibility of joining the Interstate Commerce Commission but became determined to work privately in New York.

For 31 years, Henry Friendly stayed in private practice, where his speciality evolved into a combination of administrative, common-carrier, and appellate law.

Henry Friendly had begun in September 1928 at Root, Clark, where he eventually was made a partner on January 2,1937.

Henry Friendly would assume control of the company's legal affairs with Root's consent not long afterward, primarily tasked with handling its contracts and diplomatic relationships.

In 1931, Brandeis urged Henry Friendly to join the faculty of Harvard Law School, this time with the additional support of Frankfurter, Roscoe Pound, Calvert Magruder, and Edward Morgan.

When Henry Friendly refused in order to remain in private practice, Brandeis and Frankfurter attempted to get him to join the Reconstruction Finance Corporation as its assistant general counsel the next year at the invitation of Eugene Meyer.

Henry Friendly turned down this office, a decision which came as a disappointment to Frankfurter.

The Law School continued to make repeated requests for Henry Friendly to join its faculty, all of which were ultimately unsuccessful.

Henry Friendly was a prime assistant to Harlan, proving false the claim of a prominent candidate, and whose extensive research into the claimant's forgeries led to the dissolve of several other parties' cases.

Henry Friendly was responsible for Pan Am's congressional affairs, spending much of his time in Washington, DC, litigating contracts.

Henry Friendly accompanied Trippe in his role as a legal advisor and sat adjacent to him in conference meetings.

Henry Friendly brought Pan Am and New York Telephone to the new firm.

On one occasion, his employment of a sometimes aggressive, unapologetic approach in questioning led to an objection by counsel, though Henry Friendly refused to recant his methods.

Henry Friendly successfully distinguished himself in oral argument at the Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, where he argued before Judge Calvert Magruder, who had previously been among those to recommend Friendly to join the Harvard Law faculty.

The $40 million deal was one of the hastiest Henry Friendly drafted and would be one of his last acts in private practice.

Henry Friendly's specialized practice in administrative law was known only to a select group of fellow lawyers in New York, and he had appeared before the US Supreme Court twice, losing both cases.

Henry Friendly was primarily distinguished by his exceptional performance at Harvard Law School, his clerkship for Justice Brandeis, and the reputation he accrued during his years in practice.

Felix Frankfurter and Learned Hand soon emerged as vocal supporters of Friendly to fill the seat, though ultimately the position went to J Edward Lumbard.

Henry Friendly was passed over when Judge Jerome Frank died in 1957.

Henry Friendly received his commission to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals on September 10,1959.

The fact that they never met in person to discuss cases contributed to Henry Friendly's feeling that the court lacked a sense of mutual respect and intellectual discourse.

Henry Friendly came to accept Hand, who attended periodically before dying in 1961, as beyond his prime years.

Henry Friendly was apprehensive about his judicial ability and was initially beset by self-doubt in writing opinions.

Wary of another mistake, Henry Friendly began taking a strictly literal interpretation of laws.

Henry Friendly would continue to serve as a judge for the rest of his life, assuming senior status on April 15,1974.

Henry Friendly served as a member of the Judicial Conference of the United States, where he was its chief judge from 1971 to 1973, and was a presiding judge of the Special Railroad Court from 1974 to 1986.

Henry Friendly wrote extensively in law reviews, publishing works that were considered seminal in multiple fields and extraordinary in combination with his existing workload as an appellate judge.

Henry Friendly was a member of the Harvard Board of Overseers from 1964 to 1969, and was a member of the executive committee of the American Law Institute.

Henry Friendly was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977 and the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Award in Law in 1978.

Henry Friendly was awarded numerous honorary degrees, including a Doctor of Laws by Northwestern University in 1973, and a Doctor of Humane Letters and LL.

Sophie Pfaelzer Stern, Henry Friendly's wife, was a member of a Philadelphia Jewish family and educated at Swarthmore College and Fordham University.

Henry Friendly was extremely reserved, showed both little emotion and signs of physical affection to his children, and was uninterested in their personal affairs.

Henry Friendly sought to maintain an excessively formal environment, often retiring to study alone.

Henry Friendly was always on the verge of giving vent to tenderness but, except in his letters, rarely able to do so.

Henry Friendly was a natural pessimist and demonstrated some symptoms consistent with major depressive disorder.

Henry Friendly harbored feelings of hopelessness in addition to experiencing bouts of extreme sadness, though not to the extent of impairing his diligence.

Henry Friendly's father, Myer, died at age 76 on December 28,1938, in a local hospital at St Petersburg, Florida; he was a longtime winter resident in the city.

Henry Friendly's death had been unexpected; she had been healthy and vigorous, while he had always been pessimistic and burdened with health issues.

Henry Friendly died by suicide at age 82 on March 11,1986, in his Park Avenue apartment in New York City; multiple prescription bottles were at his side.

Henry Friendly was survived by a son and two daughters.

Besides a clerkship on the Supreme Court, a Henry Friendly clerkship was the most coveted.