Robert Treuhaft | |
|---|---|
| Born | August 8, 1912 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | November 11, 2001 (aged 89) New York, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Harvard University (1934) Harvard Law School (LL.B., 1937) |
| Occupation | Attorney, political activist |
| Spouse(s) | |
Robert Edward "Bob" Treuhaft (August 8, 1912 – November 11, 2001) was an American lawyer and the second husband of Jessica Mitford.[1]
Early life
Robert Treuhaft was born on August 8, 1912, in New York City. He was the son of Hungarian immigrants.[2] He graduated from Harvard University in 1934 and attained his LL.B. degree from Harvard Law School in 1937.[3]
Career
Treuhaft worked for labor union and radical left causes much of his life. From the early-to-mid-1940s to 1958 he and Mitford were members of the Communist Party USA, leaving the party after Khrushchev's revelations about the Stalin era.[4]
Treuhaft was admitted to the California Bar in 1944,[5] and in 1945 he began at the Oakland, California law firm Grossman, Sawyer, & Edises and in 1963 founded his own Oakland-based firm Treuhaft, Walker, and Bernstein,[3] where Hillary Clinton worked as a summer intern in 1971.[6] In 1963, he provided Mitford with background and legal information that was important for Mitford's best-selling exposé of the funeral industry, which he also unofficially co-authored, The American Way of Death.[7]
In 1964, Treuhaft represented more than 700 Free Speech Movement students arrested during a two-day sit-in at the University of California in Berkeley. He and his firm also represented anti-Vietnam War protesters, Black Panther Party, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE).[3]
Before his death Treuhaft specified that any memorial donations be sent to "Send a Piano to Havana" project, which was started by his son Benjamin Treuhaft, whom the State Department had prevented from taking a piano to the embargoed island.[8]
Death
Treuhaft died on November 11, 2001.
References
- ^ Lewis, Paul (December 2, 2001). "Robert Treuhaft, Lawyer Who Inspired Funeral Exposé, Dies at 89". nytimes.com.
- ^ Childhood and Family Life in New York; Undergraduate Education; Harvard Law School (interview with Bob Treuhaft, 1988) cdlib.org. Page 2.
- ^ a b c "Guide to the Robert E. Treuhaft Papers TAM.664". Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archive.
- ^ "Bay Area Funeral Society; The American Way of Death; Berkeley Co-op Activities; Resigning from the Communist Party" (Interview with Bob Treuhaft, 1988) cdlib.org. Pages 70-72.
- ^ "Attorney Search". The State Bar of California.
- ^ Bernstein, Carl (2007). A Woman in Charge. New York: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. pp. 105–. ISBN 978-0-307-26848-8.
- ^ Hartley, Cathy (2003). A Historical Dictionary of British Women. London: Europa publications. ISBN 978-1-85743-228-2. Page 319.
- ^ Oliver, Myrna (November 16, 2001). "Robert Treuhaft, 89; Crusading Attorney". latimes.com.
External links
- Consumers Cooperative of Berkeley Oral History Collection
- Spartacus Educational biography
- Paul Lewis (December 2, 2001). "Robert Treuhaft, Lawyer Who Inspired Funeral Exposé, Dies at 89". The New York Times.
- "Robert E. Treuhaft: Civil rights lawyer and inspiration behind the writings of Jessica Mitford". November 16, 2001. Archived from the original on December 19, 2013.. (archived from mitford.org)
- Photographs of Robert Treuhaft cdlib.org
- Send a Piana to Havana