Education
Yale University; Yale Law School.
Yale University; Yale Law School.
Born in Denver, Colorado, he received his Bachelor of Arts from Yale University in 1935 and his law degree from Yale in 1938. He practiced law in Saint Louis, Missouri from 1938 to 1941. During World World War II, he worked for the Federal government at the Office of Price Administration (1942–1945) and the United States Department of Justice"s Foreign Agents Registration Section (1945–1948).
At Justice he also worked on desegregation and civil rights cases in the Civil Rights Division where he was eventually head of the Elections Section prior to being recommended to Chief Justice Earl Warren for the position of reporter of decisions.
Putzel said the ideal reporter must be a lawyer, a "word nut", and a "double revolving peripatetic nit-picker."
Putzel died in Peterborough, New Hampshire on September 2, 2013, at the age of 99.