Gerald Joseph Weber (February 1, 1914 – August 28, 1989) was a

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district. Each district covers one U.S. state or a portion of a state. There is at least one feder ...

of the

United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania The United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania (in case citations, W.D. Pa.) is a federal trial court that sits in Pittsburgh, Erie, and Johnstown, Pennsylvania. It is composed of ten judges as authorized by federa ...

Education and career

Born in

Erie Erie is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in Pennsylvania and the most populous in Northwestern Pennsylvania with a population of 94,831 ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

, Weber received an Artium Baccalaureus degree from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

in 1936 and received his

Bachelor of Laws A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

from the

University of Pennsylvania Law School The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School (also known as Penn Carey Law, or Penn Law; previously University of Pennsylvania Law School) is the law school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in Phi ...

in 1939. He was an Instructor at

Gannon College Gannon University is a private Catholic university with campuses in Erie, Pennsylvania, and Ruskin, Florida, United States. Established in 1925, Gannon University enrolls approximately 4,600 undergraduate and graduate students annually. Its inte ...

in Erie from 1939 to 1941. He was in private law practice in Erie from 1940 to 1942. Beginning in 1942, he served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

as a Captain until 1946. From 1946 to 1947 he was a Chief of Counter-Intelligence for the

United States War Department The United States Department of War, also called the War Department (and occasionally War Office in the early years), was the United States Cabinet department originally responsible for the operation and maintenance of the United States Army, als ...

Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...

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. After the war, he returned to private law practice in Erie from 1947 to 1964. During this period he also served as City Solicitor of Erie from 1950 to 1960.

Federal judicial service

On April 30, 1964, Weber was nominated by President

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, under whom he had served a ...

to a seat on the

vacated by Judge John Wilson McIlvaine. Weber was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

on September 15, 1964, and received his commission the same day. Weber served as chief judge for the district court from 1976 to 1982. He assumed senior status on December 31, 1988, and remained active with the court until his death on August 28, 1989, in Erie.

Notable cases

Among Weber's most significant rulings was a 1981 order that consolidated several suburban Pittsburgh school districts to end a racial discrimination lawsuit. He wrote a 1971 opinion in '' Mayo v. Satan and His Staff''.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Weber, Gerald Joseph 1914 births 1989 deaths Judges of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania United States district court judges appointed by Lyndon B. Johnson People from Erie, Pennsylvania Harvard University alumni University of Pennsylvania Law School alumni United States Army officers 20th-century American lawyers Pennsylvania lawyers