Oliver Wendell Jr Holmes

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American jurist appointed Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court in 1902 by President Teddy Roosevelt. He was named after his father, a physician and writer. Holmes graduated from Harvard in 1861. He served three years in the American Civil War attaining the rank of Captain. He was admitted to the bar in 1867, started practicing in Boston and became editor of the "American Law Review" 1870-1873. In 1880, he lectured at the Lowell Institute and his publication of his papers, "The Common Law" in 1881 became internationally renowned and led to the position of Professor of Law at Harvard University, 1882-1883. Holmes served as Justice to the Massachusetts Supreme Court until 1899 making chief justice until 1902. President Theodore Roosevelt appointed him to the Supreme Court in 1902 and he held the position until his retirement in 1932. Renowned for his eloquence in taking contrary views in order to look at all sides of a question, he was known as "The Great Dissenter." Holmes married Fanny Bowditch Dixwell in 1872. He died of pneumonia in Washington, DC, at 2:15 AM on 6 March 1935 and was elected to the Hall of Fame for Great Americans in 1965. Link to Wikipedia biography