Fred F. Herzog

He received his first law degree in 1931 from the University of Graz in Austria.^[2] His first law degree was in both civil law and canon law, Doctor Juris Utriusque (a "doctor of both laws").^[1][2] After receiving his law degree, he studied in Grenoble and Paris and visited much of Western Europe.^[1]

He began his law career in the Office of the Procurator General, "which meant that he learned the prosecutorial system in Austria, the penal system, and how the courts and judiciary were organized."^[1] He became "the youngest federal judge in Austria" and "the only Jewish judge in the system."^[1]

In 1935, Fred F. Herzog had been appointed a judge for life in Austria.^[2] But three years later, after the Nazi Anschluss of Austria, Fred Herzog was removed as a judge because he was a Jew.^[1][2] The Anschluss was on March 11, 1938.^[1] He received a letter dated March 14, 1938, that told him he was dismissed from his post "because you are a Jew."^[1]

Fred escaped from Austria by boarding a train to Sweden.^[1]

In April 1940, as the Nazis were invading Norway, he was able to board a ship for New York City.^[1] He entered the United States on a program designed to allow legal scholars "to escape persecution in Europe on the premise that they were participating in post-graduate programs at American law schools."^[3] He was assigned to study at the University of Iowa College of Law, where he studied U.S. law from 1940 to 1942.^[3]

His brother, Robert Herzog, had left for France and became a French national.^[1] But in 1943, French collaborators delivered him to the Gestapo, who transported him to his death in Auschwitz.^[1]

After obtaining his American law degree in 1942 from the University of Iowa, Fred Herzog moved to Chicago and began a new career as an editor-in-chief of legal periodicals and as a lawyer.^[3]

In 1947, Fred Herzog began a 25-year association with what would become the IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law, first as a professor, then as an Associate Dean, and then as Dean of the law school.^[3][4]

In 1963, he became Special Counsel to the Chicago Metropolitan Sanitary District.^[3]

From 1972 to 1976, Fred Herzog served as First Assistant Attorney General of Illinois.^[3] In 1972, he argued a pioneering environmental law case before the U.S. Supreme Court.^[3][5]

On January 1, 1976, Fred Herzog became Dean of The John Marshall Law School in Chicago.^[4] He served as Dean from 1976 to 1983.^[6] Under his leadership, The John Marshall Law School joined the Association of American Law Schools, added to its full-time faculty, upgraded the library facilities and holdings, and acquired a new building that doubled the size of the law school.^[6]

In 1983, Dean Herzog retired and accepted the title of Dean Emeritus.^[6] But in 1990, he was called back in 1990 to serve again as dean while the school was searching for a permanent dean.^[6] He kept an office during his retirement and was regularly seen greeting students in the law school lobby.^[6] His last visit to the school was in September 2007 to attend a special program to celebrate his 100th birthday.^[6]

Dean Herzog received numerous awards over his long career, including the Illinois Attorney General's Award for Outstanding Public Service (1976), a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Decalogue Society of Lawyers (1999), and a Lifetime Achievement Award from The John Marshall Law School Alumni Association (in 2007).^[6]