Stanley Howells Fuld

Background

He was born on August 23, 1903 in Manhattan, New York City. His father was a linotyper and later a proofreader for The New York Times; his mother died of pneumonia when he was twelve.

Education

After being educated in New York City public schools, Fuld attended the City College of New York, from which he was graduated cum laude, received Bachelor of Arts in 1923. He studied law at Columbia Law School, where he received Bachelor of Laws in 1926.

Career

From 1926 to 1935, Mr. Fuld he practiced privately. In 1935, Thomas E. Dewey, special prosecutor of rackets in Manhattan and a schoolmate of Mr. Fuld's at Columbia, hired him as an investigator. His specialty was developing new theories to prosecute racketeers, including Charles Luciano, known as Lucky, and James J. Hines, the Tammany Hall district leader.

In 1937, Mr. Dewey was elected Manhattan district attorney and appointed Mr. Fuld to head the Indictment Bureau. He boiled the lengthy forms down to two or three precise sentences.

For the five years beginning in 1939, Mr. Fuld was chief of the Appeals Bureau. He argued about 200 appeals in the Court of Appeals.

After Mr. Fuld spent two more years in private practice, Mr. Dewey, who by then was governor, appointed Mr. Fuld to the State Court of Appeals to fill a vacancy. At 42, he was the youngest judge to take the bench in the appeals court.

After his appointment, Judge Fuld was elected to the court for a 14-year term in 1946 and again in 1960.

In 1966 he was elected chief judge of the Court of Appeals in the State of New York, serving until 1973.

He retired in 1973, when he reached the mandatory retirement age of 70. He then entered private practice for 18 years.

Achievements

• The State Bar Association's Section on Commercial and Federal Litigation has created the Stanley H. Fuld Award for Outstanding Contributions to Commercial Law and Litigation.

Works

• book

  • Final Report of the National Commission on New Technological Uses of Copyrighted Works

    1978

Membership

He was a member of the New York County Republican Committee and was active in communal and Jewish affairs. He was chairman of the law division of the Joint Defense Appeal (1945–46), the National Hillel Commission (1947–56), and the board of the Jewish Theological Seminary from 1966.He was also a member of the American Bar Association, B'nai B'rith, and the Knights of Pythias. He also served for many years as a director of the Atlantic Legal Foundation.

• New York County Republican Committee , United States

• American Bar Association , United States

• B'nai B'rith , United States

• Knights of Pythias , United States

• Joint Defense Appeal , United States

  1945 - 1946

• National Hillel Commission , United States

  1947 - 1956

• Jewish Theological Seminary , United States

Personality

Stanley Fuld remained an intensely private and humble man. He eschewed public speaking engagements and preferred to communicate to the public through his opinions.

He was deferential, calm, quiet, and courteous. He always had a kind word to put people at ease. His humor was never barbed; usually it manifested itself in the form of harmless, never acerbic, dry puns.

Quotes from others about the person

• Jack. B. Weinstein: ''He was at that cusp between an older style of looking at the law which was more protective of property rights and the more flexible people-oriented law we've had since World War II''.
  
  "Eventually, it would be an absolute masterpiece of legal writing, but he drove me to distraction and tears".

Connections

On May 29, 1930, Fuld married Florence Geringer (d. 1975). After her death, he married Stella Rapaport. He has two daughters.

Father:

Emanuel I. Fuld

Mother:

Hermine (Frisch) Fuld

child:

Hermine Nessen

child:

Judith Miller

Wife:

Stella F. Rapaport

Wife:

Florence Geringer