Henry Friendly

Henry Jacob Friendly (July 3, 1903 – March 11, 1986) was an American jurist who served as a circuit judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 1959 until his death in 1986. Friendly was one of the most prominent U.S. judges of the 20th century, and his opinions are some of the most-cited in federal jurisprudence. Early life Friendly was born in Elmira, New York, on July 3, 1903, to a middle class German-Jewish family. He was descended from Southern German dairy farmers in Wittelshofen, Bavaria, that had adopted the surname of Freundlich. Josef Myer Freundlich (1803–1880), Friendly's great-grandfather, was a prosperous Jewish farmer. Heinrich Freundlich, Friendly's grandfather, immigrated to the United States in 1852 and anglicised the surname to Friendly. Heinrich worked as a businessman in Cuba, New York, before the birth of Friendly's father, Myer Henry Friendly, who would migrate to Elmira in his youth. Friendly demonstrated precocious abilities in reading and diction at a young age. His mother, Leah Hallo, played an intimate role in his upbringing; he later recalled, "there was absolutely nothing she wouldn’t have done for me". His father was by contrast strict and distant, impressing upon him high standards of work. The Friendly family were active members of the local German-Jewish population, lived comfortably, and held various civic positions in town. Though not devoutly religious, the family attended a Reform temple; Myers Henry held anti-Zionist views and viewed non-German Jews with distrust, dissuading his son from associating with them. As a child, Friendly was docile and obedient, gaining a reputation for his earnest behavior. He committed himself to reading voraciously and played baseball, though he was also overweight and unathletic—traits which disappointed his father. He lost function of his left-hand little finger upon contracting a serious case of blood-poisoning and developed eye problems during boyhood which further complicated his health.