Historical records matching Henry Friendly
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About Henry Friendly
Henry Jacob Friendly (July 3, 1903 – March 11, 1986) was a prominent judge in the United States, who sat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 1959 through 1974 (including service as chief judge from 1971 to 1973) and in senior status until his death by suicide in 1986.
Friendly graduated from Harvard College in 1923 and received his law degree from Harvard Law School in 1927. It is widely rumored that Friendly graduated with the highest grade point average ever attained (before or since) at Harvard Law School, but confirmation of this claim is difficult to find, and the claim is sometimes also made for U.S. Supreme Court Justices Louis Brandeis and Felix Frankfurter. The Harvard Crimson on June 23, 1927, reported that Friendly was the first Harvard Law graduate to receive a degree summa cum laude. Frankfurter, while still a professor at Harvard Law School, sent his student to work as a clerk for Justice Louis D. Brandeis of the United States Supreme Court.[3] Friendly then entered private practice in New York City from 1928 to 1959,[4] and was a founding partner of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, where his law partners included George W. Ball and Melvin Steen. He served as vice president and general counsel of Pan American World Airways in New York City from 1946 to 1959.
Friendly was appointed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to a seat on the Second Circuit vacated by Harold Raymond Medina. Friendly's appointment had been endorsed on the basis of merit by several prominent judges and lawyers, including Judge Learned Hand.
Friendly was confirmed by the United States Senate on September 9, 1959, and received his commission the next day. He served as the chief judge of the Second Circuit from 1971 to 1973.
Friendly's opinions for the Second Circuit were considered scholarly and of superior quality; many are still cited today, particularly in the field of securities law.
Friendly received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977.
Friendly took his own life at age 82 on March 11, 1986 in his Park Avenue apartment in New York City. Police said they found three notes in the apartment, one addressed to his resident maid and two unaddressed notes. In all three notes, the judge talked about his distress at his wife's death, his declining health and his failing eyesight, according to a police spokesman. His wife, the former Sophie S. Stern, had died a year and four days earlier. They had been married for 55 years.
In a ceremony following Friendly's death, Chief Justice of the United States, Warren E. Burger, said, "In my 30 years on the bench, I have never known a judge more qualified to sit on the Supreme Court."
At the same ceremony, Associate Justice Thurgood Marshall called Friendly "a man of the law."
In a letter to the editor of The New York Times following Friendly's obituary, Judge Jon O. Newman called Friendly "quite simply the pre-eminent appellate judge of his era " who "authored the definitive opinions for the nation in each area of the law that he had occasion to consider."
In a statement after Friendly's death, Judge Wilfred Feinberg, the 2nd Circuit's chief judge at the time, called Friendly "one of the greatest Federal judges in the history of the Federal bench."
Richard A. Posner of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, described Friendly as "the most distinguished judge in this country during his years on the bench."
Harvard Law School has a professorship named after Friendly. Paul C. Weiler, a Canadian constitutional law scholar, held it from 1993 to 2006;[8] William J. Stuntz, a scholar of criminal law and procedure, held it from 2006 until his death in March 2011.
The Federal Bar Council awarded Friendly a Certificate of Distinguished Judicial Service posthumously in 1986.
The American Law Institute has an award named in memory of Friendly and endowed by his former law clerks.
"United States Passport Applications, 1795-1925," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QKDX-PV29 : accessed 4 January 2016), Henry Jacob Friendly, 1923; citing Passport Application, Massachusetts, United States, source certificate #298193, Passport Applications, January 2, 1906 - March 31, 1925, 2281, NARA microfilm publications M1490 and M1372 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 1,065,239.
"Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Marriage Indexes, 1885-1951," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JVSM-436 : accessed 4 January 2016), Friendly and Sophie M Stern, 1930; citing license number 591806, Clerk of the Orphan's Court. City Hall.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Friendly
"United States Social Security Death Index," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VMJN-54W : accessed 4 January 2016), Henry Friendly, Mar 1986; citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service, ongoing).
"United States, GenealogyBank Obituaries, 1980-2014," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QV5H-HMVX : accessed 4 January 2016), Henry J Friendly, Pennsylvania, United States, 12 Mar 1986; from "Recent Newspaper Obituaries (1977 - Today)," database, GenealogyBank.com (http://www.genealogybank.com : 2014); citing , born-digital text.
Harvard Law-Class of 1927
President of Harvard Review
Clerked for Justice Louis D. Brandeis
Wall Stree Law Firms (2)
Appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit-------Judge for 27 years
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Henry Friendly's Timeline
| 1903 |
July 3, 1903
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Elmira, Chemung County, New York, United States
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| 1932 |
November 4, 1932
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| 1986 |
March 11, 1986
Age 82
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New York, New York, United States
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