Henry Jacob Friendly (July 3, 1903, Elmira, NY – March 11, 1986, New York City) was a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on active service from 1959 through 1974 and in senior status until his death. He was appointed by President Eisenhower to a seat vacated by Harold Raymond Medina. Judge Friendly was confirmed by the Senate on September 9, 1959, and received his commission the next day. [http://www.fjc.gov/servlet/tGetInfo?jid=802 He served as the Chief Judge for the circuit from 1971 to 1973.

Before the bench

---

Judge Friendly graduated from Harvard College in 1923 and received his law degree from Harvard Law School in 1927. Felix Frankfurter, then a professor at the school and later a United States Supreme Court Justice, sent his student to work as a clerk for Justice Louis D. Brandeis of the United States Supreme Court. New York City from 1928 to 1959. ^*" target="_blank" >He served as Vice President and General Counsel at Pan American World Airways in New York City from 1946 to 1959. [http://www.fjc.gov/servlet/tGetInfo?jid=802 He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977.

Death

---

Judge 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 Sophine S. Stern, had died a year and four days earlier. They had been married for 55 years. ^*

Legacy

---

In a ceremony following Judge 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 Judge Friendly "a man of the law." ^*

In a letter to the editor of the New York Times following Judge Friendly's obituary, Judge Jon O. Newman called him "quite simply the pre-eminent appellate judge of his era . . . authored the definitive opinions for the nation in each area of the law that he had occasion to consider." [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A0DEFD91031F937A15750C0A960948260

In a statement after Judge Friendly's death, Judge Wilfred Feinberg, the 2nd Circuit's Chief Judge at the time, called Judge 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 Judge Friendly as "the most distinguished judge in this country during his years on the bench." ^*

Harvard Law School has a professorship named after Judge Friendly. Paul C. Weiler, a Canadian Constitutional Law Scholar, has held it since 1993. ^*

The Federal Bar Council awarded Judge Friendly a Certificate of Distinguished Judicial Service posthumously in 1986. ^*

The American Law Insitute has an award named in memory of Judge Friendly and endowed by his former law clerks. ^*

Clerks

---

• David Currie (1960–1961), Edward H. Levi Distinguished Service Professor, University of Chicago Law School. ^*

• Peter B. Edelman (1961–62), Professor of Law & Co-Director, Joint Degree in Law and Public Policy, Georgetown Law Center. ^*

• Stephen R. Barnett (1962–1963), Elizabeth Josselyn Boalt Professor of Law, Emeritus, Boalt Hall, University of California, Berkeley. ^*

• Michael Boudin (1964–1965), Chief Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. ^*

• Marvin L. Gray, Jr. (1969?–1970?), Partner, Davis Wright Tremaine LLP, Seattle.

• A. Raymond Randolph (1969–1970), Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. ^*

• Lawrence B. Pedowitz (1972–1973), Partner, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. ^*

• Frederick T. Davis (1972–1973), Partner, Litigation Department, Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, Paris. [http://www.martindale.com/xp/Martindale/Lawyer_Locator/Search_Lawyer_Locator/search_detail.xml?STS=&CN=&PAREA=&LSCH=&YRS=&CTY=&ratind=&FNAME=fred&STYPE=N&LNAME=davis&PG=1&SCC=&ISA=&bc=2114&MTY=&SET=&MTR=&CRY=&LNG=&FN=&bc=2114&a=88BCF023558DC0F6&l=92C3F42E679CD30A&type=2&pos=1&cnt=14

• William Curtis Bryson (1973–1974), Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. ^*

• James R. Smoot (1974–1975), Dean & Professor of Law, Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law, The University of Memphis. ^*

• Ruth Wedgwood (1976–1977), Edward B. Burling Professor of International Law and Diplomacy & Director of the International Law and Organization Program, The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) of Johns Hopkins University; Member, United Nations Human Rights Committee.

• Theodore N. Mirvis (1976–1977), Partner, Litigation Department, Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. ^*

• Mary I. Coombs (1978–1979), Professor of Law, University of Miami School of Law. ^*

• John G. Roberts, Jr. (1979–1980), Chief Justice of the United States. ^*

• Paul Mogin (1980–1981), Partner, Williams & Connolly LLP, Washington, DC.

• Jonathan R. Macey (1982–1983), Sam Harris Professor of Corporate Law, Corporate Finance and Securities Law, Yale Law School. [http://www.law.yale.edu/outside/html/faculty/jm675/profile.htm

• Larry D. Kramer (1984–1985), Richard E. Lang Professor of Law and Dean, Stanford Law School. ^*

• Raymond Ludwiszewski (1984–1985), Partner, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, Washington, DC.

• Thomas G. Dagger (1986) of AT&T. [http://www.martindale.com/xp/Martindale/Lawyer_Locator/Search_Lawyer_Locator/search_result.xml?PG=0&STYPE=N&FNAME=thomas&LNAME=dagger&FN=&CN=&STS=&CRY=&bc=1

• Michael P. Madow, Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law School.

Family

---

Judge Friendly's wife of 55 years, Sophine S. Stern, died a year before he did. He was madly in love with her. In 1970, they went on a cruise together in the Panama Canal. ^*

Joan is a Professor of Education at the University of Pennsylvania and married to Prof. Frank Goodman of the University of Pennsylvania Law School (an administrative law and federal courts expert) Yeadon, Pa. [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9907E2DB1539F930A15755C0A960958260" target="_blank" >^*

Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit | Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients | People from New York | Jurists who committed suicide | 1903 births | 1986 deaths