Abraham Lincoln Lincoln Marovitz

Background

Born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin to Orthodox Jewish parents who were Lithuanian immigrants, Marovitz grew up in the Maxwell Street area of Chicago, after his parents moved to Chicago in 1910.

Education

Juris Doctor, Chicago-Kent College Law, 1925. Doctor of Humane Letters, Lincoln College, Illinois, 1956. Doctor of Laws, Winston Churchill College, 1968.

HHD, Chicago Medical School, 1984. Doctor of Laws (honorary), Illinois Institute of Technology, 1988. Doctor of Laws (honorary), Roosevelt University, 1989.

Doctor of Laws (honorary), National-Louis University, 1991.

Career

Marovitz spent his youth selling newspapers, delivering groceries and prizefighting. As a teenager, he also worked as an office boy for a law firm, where a partner encouraged him to attend law school (and agreed to fund his tuition), even though Marovitz did not have a college degree. "In those days, you didn't need a college degree to go to law school," Marovitz later said.

"So that's how I wound up the only sitting federal judge who never went to college." Marovitz earned a law degree from Chicago-Kent College of Law in 1925 at the age of 19, and he was at that point still 20 months too young to sit for the Illinois bar exam, which required all test-takers to be 21 years old. Marovitz took the exam when he turned 21, and passed it on his first try. Professional career

From 1927 until 1933, Marovitz was an assistant state's attorney in Cook County, Illinois.

In 1950, Marovitz became a Superior Court judge in Cook County. He served as a Superior Court judge until his appointment to the federal bench in 1963. Federal judicial service

On July 16, 1963, President John F. Kennedy nominated Marovitz to a seat on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois vacated by Julius H. Miner.

The United States Senate confirmed Marovitz on September 25, 1963, and received commission on October 2, 1963. Marovitz assumed senior status on his 70th birthday, on August 10, 1975.

Membership

Member Illinois Senate, 1938-1950. Board of directors Hebrew Theological College. Member of advisory board Young Men’s Christian Association Metropolitan Chicago.

Trustee Chicago-Kent College Law, Chicago Medical School. Former trustee Illinois History Library. Past member Jewish Board Education Served to sergeant major United States Marine Corps Reserve, 1943-1946.

Member American Bar Association, Illinois State Bar Association, Chicago Bar Association (past manager, ExemplarySvc. award 1987), International Association Jewsish Lawyers & Jurists, Decalogue Society of Lawyers (annual merit award 1968), Jewish War Veterans United States (past department commander, Man of Year 1994), American Legion (past commander Marine post Chicago.

Connections

Father:

Joseph Marovitz

Mother:

Rachel (Glowitz) Marovitz