Charles Henry Tenney (January 28, 1911 – November 11, 1994) was a

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the United States federal judiciary, U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each United States federal judicial district, federal judicial district, which each cover o ...

of the

United States District Court for the Southern District of New York The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (in case citations, S.D.N.Y.) is a United States district court, federal trial court whose geographic jurisdiction encompasses eight counties of New York (state), New York ...

Education and career

Born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, Tenney received an

Artium Baccalaureus Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree from

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

in 1933 and a

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

from

Yale Law School Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by ''U ...

in 1936. He was in private practice in New York City from 1936 to 1942. He was a

United States Naval Reserve The United States Navy Reserve (USNR), known as the United States Naval Reserve from 1915 to 2005, is the Reserve Component (RC) of the United States Navy. Members of the Navy Reserve, called Reservists, are categorized as being in either the Sele ...

Lieutenant Commander during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, from 1942 to 1946. He was in private practice in New York City from 1946 to 1955. He was Commissioner of the Department of Investigation in New York City from 1955 to 1958. He was corporation counsel for New York City from 1958 to 1961. He was city administrator of New York City from 1961 to 1962. He was deputy mayor of New York City from 1962 to 1964.

Federal judicial service

On July 22, 1963, Tenney was nominated by President

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination i ...

to a seat on the

vacated by Judge

Alexander Bicks Alexander Bicks (March 17, 1901 – May 9, 1963) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Early life and education Born in the Russi ...

. Tenney was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

on December 5, 1963, and received his commission from President Lyndon B. Johnson on December 12, 1963. He assumed

senior status Senior status is a form of semi-retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the Federal judiciary of the United States, federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of servi ...

on January 31, 1979. Tenney served in that capacity until his death on November 11, 1994, in

Islip Islip may refer to: Places England *Islip, Northamptonshire *Islip, Oxfordshire United States *Islip, New York, a town in Suffolk County **Islip (hamlet), New York, located in the above town **Central Islip, New York, a hamlet and census-des ...

, New York.

Notable case

Tenney is the author of the seminal patent damages case, ''Georgia-Pacific Corp. v. U.S. Plywood Corp.'', 318 F.Supp. 1116 (S.D.N.Y. 1970). In it, he set forth fifteen non-exclusive factors to assist courts in determining the "reasonable royalty" owed a patent holder by an infringer in a patent suit. His opinion has since been cited in more than five-hundred court opinions.

Personal

Tenney was the grandson of

Charles H. Tenney Charles Henry Tenney (July 9, 1842 – April 27, 1919) was proprietor of C. H. Tenney & Co., established 1868, and become one of the most successful commissioned merchant and hat dealers in the world. He was also a director of the Bank of the M ...

, founder of C.H. Tenney & Co., who made his fortune as the leading hat dealer in the world throughout both the late

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

and the

Edwardian era The Edwardian era or Edwardian period of British history spanned the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910 and is sometimes extended to the start of the First World War. The death of Queen Victoria in January 1901 marked the end of the Victori ...

and was also a New York banker. Tenney's daughter Patricia Lusk Tenney married John Randolph Hearst Jr., the grandson of newspaper man and publisher

William Randolph Hearst William Randolph Hearst Sr. (; April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951) was an American businessman, newspaper publisher, and politician known for developing the nation's largest newspaper chain and media company, Hearst Communications. His flamboya ...

References

Sources