Harry F. Weyher Jr. (August 19, 1921 – March 27, 2002) was an American lawyer. Born in

Wilson, North Carolina Wilson is a city in and the county seat of Wilson County, North Carolina, United States. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, 23rd-most populous city in North Carolina. Located about east of the capital city of Raleigh, North Car ...

, Weyher attended the

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the Public university, public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referre ...

. After serving in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he graduated magna cum laude from

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

in 1949, where he was an editor of the

Harvard Law Review The ''Harvard Law Review'' is a law review published by an independent student group at Harvard Law School. According to the ''Journal Citation Reports'', the ''Harvard Law Review''s 2015 impact factor of 4.979 placed the journal first out of ...

. Early in his career, he worked for Cravath, Swaine & Moore and served as special assistant attorney general to the New York State Crime Commission. In 1954, he co-founded the New York City firm Olwine, Connelly, Chase, O'Donnell & Weyher. He became an adjunct associate professor at New York University School of Law and a member of

the Society of the Cincinnati ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

. Later in his professional career, he was "

of counsel Of counsel is the title of an attorney in the legal profession of the United States who often has a relationship with a law firm or an organization but is neither an associate nor partner. Some firms use titles such as "counsel", "special couns ...

" to the law firm of Hollyer, Brady, Smith, Troxell, Barret, Rockett, Hines, and Mone. He died in

La Grange, North Carolina La Grange is a town in Lenoir County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 2,595 based on the 2020 census. La Grange is located in North Carolina's Inner Banks region. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the to ...

in an area where his family has lived for generations.

World War II

During World War II, Weyher served in the European theater in the U.S. Army, becoming a first sergeant and earning two battle stars. According to Harvard Law School classmate Leon Baker, Weyher "was the first sergeant of a secret 120-member elite intelligence unit, which operated behind enemy lines." In 1945, while Allied forces were attempting to seize the

Arnhem bridge John Frost Bridge (''John Frostbrug'' in Dutch language, Dutch) is the road bridge over the Lower Rhine at Arnhem, in the Netherlands. The bridge was inaugurated after the end of World War II, and is named after Major-General (United Kingdom), Ma ...

, Weyher entered the deserted town of

Remagen Remagen () is a town in Germany in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, in the district of Ahrweiler (district), Ahrweiler. It is about a one-hour drive from Cologne, just south of Bonn, the former West Germany, West German seat of government. It i ...

and discovered a bridge over the Rhine that had not been destroyed by German troops. "Nine weeks after the initial breakthrough at the Remagen bridge, the German army surrendered", wrote Baker.

Pioneer Fund involvement

From 1958 until his death in 2002, Weyher was president of the

Pioneer Fund The Pioneer Fund is an American non-profit foundation established in 1937 "to advance the scientific study of heredity and human differences". The organization has been described as racist and white supremacist in nature. The Southern Pover ...

, a nonprofit eugenics foundation. His interest in the Pioneer Fund originated from its opposition to the Supreme Court's decision in ''

Brown v. Board of Education ''Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka'', 347 U.S. 483 (1954), was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional, even if the ...

''. Weyher was personally recruited by

Wickliffe Draper Wickliffe Preston Draper (August 9, 1891 – March 11, 1972) was an American political activist. He was an ardent eugenicist and lifelong advocate of strict racial segregation. In 1937, he founded the Pioneer Fund for eugenics and heredity rese ...

, the founder of the Pioneer Fund. During his time as president of the Pioneer Fund, Weyher directed over $3.5 million to eugenics researchers.

References

1921 births 2002 deaths American segregationists Harvard Law School alumni North Carolina lawyers People from Wilson, North Carolina University of North Carolina alumni United States Army personnel of World War II People from La Grange, North Carolina 20th-century American lawyers {{US-mil-bio-stub Pioneer Fund members