Ralph Clyde Body (February 18, 1903 – June 2, 1973) 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 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 ...

Education and career

Born in Yellow House,

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 ...

, Body received an Artium Baccalaureus degree from

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsyl ...

in 1925. 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

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 1928. He was in private practice of law in Pennsylvania from 1928 to 1960. He was solicitor for the Recorder of Deeds for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania from 1933 to 1936. He worked for the

Home Owners' Loan Corporation The Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC) was a government-sponsored corporation created as part of the New Deal. The corporation was established in 1933 by the Home Owners' Loan Corporation Act under the leadership of President Franklin D. Roo ...

from 1933 to 1941. He was an assistant county solicitor in Pennsylvania from 1936 to 1938. He was a member of the

Berks County Berks County (Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Barricks Kaundi'') is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 428,849. The county seat is Reading, the fourth-most populous city in the state. The ...

Board Law Examiners from 1946 to 1960. He was a judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Berks County from 1960 to 1962.

Federal judicial service

Body was nominated by President

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the first Roman Catholic and youngest person elected p ...

on March 5, 1962, to a seat on the

vacated by Judge Allan Kuhn Grim. 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 April 2, 1962, and received his commission on April 4, 1962. He assumed senior status due to a certified disability on May 30, 1972. His service was terminated on June 2, 1973, due to his death.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Body, Ralph C. 1903 births 1973 deaths Judges of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania United States district court judges appointed by John F. Kennedy University of Pennsylvania Law School alumni Judges of the Pennsylvania Courts of Common Pleas