John Whitaker Lord Jr. (December 19, 1901 – May 16, 1972) was an American politician and judge from

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 ...

. He served as a Republican member of the

Pennsylvania Senate The Pennsylvania State Senate is the upper house of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, the Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mi ...

for the 6th district from 1947 to 1951 and the Philadelphia City Council from 1952 to 1954. He served as 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 Eastern District of Pennsylvania The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (in case citations, E.D. Pa.) is one of the original 13 federal judiciary districts created by the Judiciary Act of 1789. It originally sat in Independence Hall in Philad ...

from 1954 until his death in 1972.

Early life and education

Lord was born in the Germantown neighborhood of

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. He graduated from Germantown High School and the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

. He received a

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

Temple University Beasley School of Law The James E. Beasley School of Law (known as Temple Law) is the law school of Temple University, a public research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1895 and enrolls about 650 students. Student body Admission for the ...

in 1928.

Career

He entered private practice in 1928 with the firm of Brown and Williams (later

White and Williams White and Williams LLP is a law firm, headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, founded in 1899 by Thomas Raeburn White. White and Williams currently has approximately 225 lawyers and serves clients from ten offices located throughout Pennsy ...

) and remained associated with them until his elevation to the bench in 1954. Lord also worked as a

law professor A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyzes and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal education in law (a law degree) and often a legal practition ...

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist ministe ...

from 1938 to 1954, as well as lecturing on

medical jurisprudence Medical jurisprudence or legal medicine is the branch of science and medicine involving the study and application of scientific and medical knowledge to legal problems, such as inquests, and in the field of law. As modern medicine is a legal ...

Hahnemann Medical College Drexel University College of Medicine is the medical school of Drexel University, a private research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The medical school represents the consolidation of two medical schools: Hahnemann Medical College, orig ...

. He was a deputy state attorney general of Pennsylvania from 1939 to 1946. He served as a Republican member of the

Pennsylvania State Senate The Pennsylvania State Senate is the upper house of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, the Pennsylvania state legislature. The State Senate meets in the State Capitol building in Harrisburg. Senators are elected for four-year terms, stagger ...

for the 6th district from 1947 to 1951. In 1951, he was elected as one of seven at-large members of the

Philadelphia City Council The Philadelphia City Council is the legislative body of the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the United States. It is composed of 17 councilmembers: ten members elected by district and seven members elected at-large from throughou ...

and served from 1952 to 1954.

Federal judicial service

Lord was nominated by President

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...

on March 29, 1954, to a seat on the

vacated by Judge

James P. McGranery James Patrick McGranery (July 8, 1895 – December 23, 1962) was a United States representative from Pennsylvania, a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and Attorney General of ...

. He 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 May 18, 1954, and received his commission on May 20, 1954. He served as Chief Judge from 1969 to 1971. He assumed senior status on December 19, 1971. Lord served in that capacity until his death on May 16, 1972, after collapsing while attending a Temple Law alumni dinner. He is interred at the Saint Timothy's Episcopal Church Cemetery in the Roxborough section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

References

Sources

* * , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Lord, John Whitaker Jr. 1901 births 1972 deaths 20th-century American lawyers Judges of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania Lawyers from Philadelphia Pennsylvania Republicans Philadelphia City Council members Politicians from Philadelphia Temple University Beasley School of Law alumni United States district court judges appointed by Dwight D. Eisenhower University of Pennsylvania alumni 20th-century Pennsylvania politicians