Thomas Collier Platt Jr. (May 29, 1925 – March 4, 2017) was a

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the United States federal judiciary, U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each United States federal judicial district, federal judicial district, which each cover o ...

of the

United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York The United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York (in case citations, E.D.N.Y.) is the federal district court whose territorial jurisdiction spans five counties in New York State: the four Long Island counties of Nassau, S ...

from 1974 to 2017 and its Chief Judge from 1988 to 1995.

Education and career

A great-grandson of former

United States Senator The United States Senate is the Upper house, upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives being the Lower house, lower chamber. Together they compose the national Bica ...

Thomas Collier Platt Thomas Collier Platt (July 15, 1833 – March 6, 1910), also known as Tom Platt

, he was born on May 29, 1925, in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. He was in the

United States Naval Reserve The United States Navy Reserve (USNR), known as the United States Naval Reserve from 1915 to 2005, is the Reserve Component (RC) of the United States Navy. Members of the Navy Reserve, called Reservists, are categorized as being in either the Sele ...

from 1943 to 1946. He received a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree from

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

in 1947, and a

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

from

Yale Law School Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by ''U ...

in 1950. While in law school, Platt married Anne Byrd Symington in 1948. After engaging in private practice in

from 1950 to 1953, he became an

Assistant United States Attorney An assistant United States attorney (AUSA) is an official career civil service position in the U.S. Department of Justice composed of lawyers working under the U.S. Attorney of each U.S. federal judicial district. They represent the federal gove ...

of the Eastern District of New York, serving from 1953 to 1956. He then returned to private practice in New York City, while also serving as an attorney for Village of

Laurel Hollow Laurel Hollow is a village in the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, on the North Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 1,952 at the 2010 census. According to Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Laurel Hollow was the eight ...

, New York from 1958 to 1974, and acting police justice in the Village of

Lloyd Harbor Lloyd Harbor is a village in the Town of Huntington in Suffolk County, on the North Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. As of the 2010 census, the village's population was 3,660. History In 1654, the Matinecock Native America ...

, New York from 1958 to 1963.

Federal judicial service

Platt was nominated by President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

on January 31, 1974, to a seat on the

vacated by Judge

George Rosling George Rosling (December 22, 1900 – April 16, 1973) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Education and career Born in New York City, New York, Rosling received an Artium ...

. He was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

on March 1, 1974, and received his commission on March 8, 1974. At the time of his nomination, he was the first federal district court judge from Suffolk County, New York. He served as Chief Judge of the Eastern District from 1988 to 1995. After over 25 years of active service, Platt assumed

senior status Senior status is a form of semi-retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the Federal judiciary of the United States, federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of servi ...

on February 1, 2001, and served in that capacity until his death on March 4, 2017, in North Branford,

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

."Thomas Platt, 91, Dies: Fined Air Traffic Controllers $100,000 an Hour"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', March 6, 2017.

References

External links

* 1925 births 2017 deaths Judges of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York United States district court judges appointed by Richard Nixon 20th-century American judges United States Navy sailors People from Laurel Hollow, New York People from Lloyd Harbor, New York Military personnel from New York City United States Navy personnel of World War II Yale Law School alumni Assistant United States Attorneys United States Navy reservists {{US-federal-judge-stub