Jacob B. Tanzer (February 13, 1935 – July 23, 2018) was an American attorney in the state of

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

. Prior to private practice Tanzer served as the 81st justice of the

Oregon Supreme Court The Oregon Supreme Court (OSC) is the highest State court (United States), state court in the U.S. state of Oregon. The only court that may reverse or modify a decision of the Oregon Supreme Court is the Supreme Court of the United States.

. He also served on the

Oregon Court of Appeals The Oregon Court of Appeals is the state intermediate appellate court in the US state of Oregon. Part of the Oregon Judicial Department, it has thirteen judges and is located in Salem. Except for death penalty cases, which are reserved to the O ...

, was a deputy district attorney for

Multnomah County, Oregon Multnomah County is one of the Oregon counties, 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the county's population was 815,428. Multnomah County is part of the Portland metropolitan area. The stat ...

, and worked for the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a United States federal executive departments, federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of Law of the Unite ...

Early life

Jacob Tanzer was born in

Longview, Washington Longview is a city in Cowlitz County, Washington, Cowlitz County, Washington (state), Washington, United States. It is the principal city of the Longview, Washington Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Cowlitz County. Longvie ...

on February 13, 1935.Résumé.
Jacob Tanzer: Arbitration, Mediation, & Neutral Services. Retrieved on January 25, 2008. He attended Grant High School in

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

. After high school he attended the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a Public university, public research university in Eugene, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1876, the university is organized into nine colleges and schools and offers 420 undergraduate and gra ...

Eugene Eugene may refer to: People and fictional characters * Eugene (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Gene Eugene, stage name of Canadian born actor, record producer, engineer, composer and musi ...

where he earned a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

in 1956.Jacob Tanzer: Arbitration, Mediation & Neutral Services.
Legalspan. Retrieved on January 25, 2008. Tanzer then went on to the university’s

law school A law school (also known as a law centre/center, college of law, or faculty of law) is an institution, professional school, or department of a college or university specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for b ...

, graduating in 1959 with his

Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...

. That year he passed the

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar ** Chocolate bar * Protein bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a laye ...

. He also attended

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

in California and

Reed College Reed College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Portland, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1908, Reed is a residential college with a campus in the Eastmoreland, Portland, Oregon, E ...

Legal career

From 1959 until 1962 Tanzer worked in private legal practice in Portland. Tanzer then joined the U.S. Department of Justice in 1962, where he would remain until 1964. In 1964, while working for the Department of Justice he was sent to Mississippi as part of the Civil Rights Division to investigate the

murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner On June 21, 1964, three Civil Rights Movement activists, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner, were murdered by local members of the Ku Klux Klan. They had been arrested earlier in the day for speeding, and after being releas ...

, three civil rights activists.Mahar, Ted. Burning’ memories new civil rights movie strikes familiar chord with a Portland lawyer. ''

The Oregonian ''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the West Coast of the United States, U.S. West Coast, founded as a weekly by Tho ...

'', January 15, 1989. The incident would later become the basis for the movie ''

Mississippi Burning ''Mississippi Burning'' is a 1988 American crime thriller film directed by Alan Parker and written by Chris Gerolmo that is loosely based on the 1964 investigation into the deaths of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner in Mississippi. It stars ...

'' (1988). From 1965 until 1969 Jacob Tanzer worked as a deputy

district attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, county prosecutor, state attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or solicitor is the chief prosecutor or chief law enforcement officer represen ...

for

, the county where Portland is located. In 1969 he became Oregon’s first Solicitor General in the

Oregon Department of Justice The Oregon Department of Justice (DOJ), headed by the Oregon Attorney General (currently Ellen Rosenblum), is the main legal branch of the government of the U.S. state of Oregon. The DOJ is part of Oregon's executive branch, and most of its empl ...

, serving until 1971 when he became the first director of the

Oregon Department of Human Services The Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS) is the principal human services agency of the government of the U.S. state of Oregon. DHS provides services to more than 1 million Oregonians each year. History 1971: The Oregon Legislature cre ...

. While Solicitor General he defended the state's position in the U.S. Supreme Court case of ''

Apodaca v. Oregon ''Apodaca v. Oregon'', 406 U.S. 404 (1972), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that state juries may convict a defendant by a less-than-unanimous verdict in a felony criminal case. The four-justice plurality opinion of ...

''. Tanzer remained at that agency until 1973.

Judicial career

On October 5, 1973, Jacob Tanzer was appointed by Oregon Governor

Tom McCall Thomas Lawson McCall (March 22, 1913 January 8, 1983) was an American, politician and journalist in the state of Oregon, serving as the state's thirtieth governor from 1967 to 1975. A progressive Republican, he was known as a staunch environme ...

to a new position on the Oregon Court of Appeals.Oregon State Archives: Governor's Records Guides.
Oregon Secretary of State. Retrieved on January 25, 2008.Oregon Blue Book: Earliest Authorities in Oregon - Oregon Court of Appeals Judges.
Oregon Secretary of State. Retrieved on January 25, 2008. That term ended on January 6, 1975. The following year he ran for a position on the court, but was appointed to the court before the election was held by Governor Robert W. Straub on August 16, 1976. He was replacing Robert H. Foley who had resigned, and Tanzer won election to a full six-year term on the court that year before resigning on January 21, 1980. On that same day, Tanzer was appointed by Governor

Victor G. Atiyeh Victor George Atiyeh (; February 20, 1923 – July 20, 2014) was an American politician who served as the 32nd governor of Oregon from 1979 to 1987. He was also the first elected governor of Middle Eastern descent and of Syrian descent in the U ...

to the Oregon Supreme Court to replace Ralph M. Holman who had resigned.Oregon Blue Book: Earliest Authorities in Oregon - Supreme Court Justices of Oregon.
Oregon Secretary of State. Retrieved on January 25, 2008. Tanzer won election to a full six-year term later in 1980, and then resigned from the court on December 31, 1982.

Later years

After retiring from the bench, Tanzer returned to private practice in Portland. He died on July 23, 2018, due to a fall.

References

External links

Official site
* ttp://petespringer.smugmug.com/gallery/279819/1/59621295#21161375-L-LB Photograph of Jacob Tanzer {{DEFAULTSORT:Tanzer, Jacob Justices of the Oregon Supreme Court Reed College alumni University of Oregon alumni 1935 births 2018 deaths American lawyers University of Oregon School of Law alumni Oregon Court of Appeals judges People from Longview, Washington Stanford University alumni Grant High School (Portland, Oregon) alumni 20th-century American judges 21st-century American Jews