Ralph McKenzie Freeman (May 5, 1902 – March 29, 1990) 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 Michigan The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan (in case citations, E.D. Mich.) is the United States district court, federal district court with jurisdiction over the eastern half of the Lower Peninsula of the State of M ...

Education and career

Born on May 5, 1902, in

Flushing Flushing may refer to: Places Netherlands * Flushing, Netherlands, an English name for the city of Vlissingen, Netherlands United Kingdom * Flushing, Cornwall, a village in Cornwall, England * The Flushing, a building in Suffolk, England ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

, Freeman 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 ...

in 1926 from

University of Michigan Law School The University of Michigan Law School (branded as Michigan Law) is the law school of the University of Michigan, a public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Founded in 1859, the school offers Master of Laws (LLM), Master of Comparati ...

. He entered private practice in

Flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Historically, flint was widely used to make stone tools and start ...

, Michigan from 1926 to 1927 and again from 1933 to 1954. He was an assistant prosecutor in Genesee County, Michigan from 1928 to 1930 and prosecutor from 1931 to 1932.

Other service

Freeman was elected to the Flint Board of Education in 1935, and served until 1949. During the course of that service, he served in the capacity of Secretary, as Vice President and ultimately as President of the Board for four years. His service was recognized by the Flint Board of Education when they named a new school in Flint, the Ralph M. Freeman Elementary School.

Federal judicial service

Freeman 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 May 10, 1954, to the

, to a new seat authorized by 68 Stat. 8. 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 June 8, 1954, and received his commission on June 10, 1954. He took the oath and entered on duty on June 29, 1954. He served as a member of the

Judicial Conference of the United States The Judicial Conference of the United States, formerly known as the Conference of Senior Circuit Judges, was created by the United States Congress in 1922 with the principal objective of framing policy guidelines for administration of judicial co ...

from 1963 to 1966 and as Chief Judge from February 18, 1967 to May 4, 1972. He assumed senior status on July 1, 1973. His service terminated on March 29, 1990, due to his death in

Royal Oak The Royal Oak was the English oak tree within which the future King Charles II of England hid to escape the Roundheads following the Battle of Worcester in 1651. The tree was in Boscobel Wood, which was part of the park of Boscobel House ...

, Michigan.

Personal and death

On August 13, 1938, Freeman married Emmalyn Ellis; they had no children. Freeman died suddenly on March 29, 1990, after returning from a judicial conference at Hilton Head,

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

. He was interred at Sunset Hill Cemetery in Flint after a graveside service.

References

External links

Bio at the Sixth Circuit website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Freeman, Ralph Mckenzie 1902 births 1990 deaths People from Flint, Michigan People from Royal Oak, Michigan University of Michigan Law School alumni Judges of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan United States district court judges appointed by Dwight D. Eisenhower