John Oliver Halstead Pitney
American lawyer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
John Oliver Halstead Pitney (April 14, 1860 – October 6, 1928) was an American lawyer from New Jersey.[1]
John Oliver Halstead Pitney | |
|---|---|
| Born | April 14, 1860 Morristown, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Died | October 6, 1928 (aged 68) Newark, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Education | Princeton University |
| Known for | Founder of Pitney Hardin |
Early life and education
Born in Morristown, New Jersey to Henry Cooper and Sarah Louise (Halsted) Pitney,[2] Pitney was "a member of one of New Jersey's oldest families",[3] described by Kim Isaac Eisler as a New Jersey blue-blood.[1] His great-grandfather Henry Cooper Pitney served in the American Revolutionary War.[4] Pitney's father and his older brother Mahlon Pitney were also lawyers;[4] Mahlon eventually served on the United States Supreme Court.[1][5]
Pitney attended the Morris Academy, and received a B.A. from Princeton University in 1881 followed by an M.A. from the same institution in 1884.[6] He was a member of Phi Beta Kappa.[7] He read law under his father and gained admission to the bar in New Jersey at the June term of 1884 as an attorney, and three years later as a counselor.[2]
Career
Establishing himself in Newark, he partnered with Frederick H. Heese for the first ten years of his practice.[2] In 1902, he and John R. Hardin founded the law firm of Pitney & Hardin, later Pitney Hardin and Ward, in Newark;[8] his brother Mahlon also worked at the firm for a time, and has sometimes been incorrectly credited as a founder.[1] According to Eisler, the firm's clients included "some of the most notoriously antilabor corporations in the state", and because of its strike-breaking work it was known in the labor movement as "Pluck'em, Hook'em and Sink'em".[1]
Pitney was elected to the Board of the United Electric Company of New Jersey in March 1901[9] and also served at various times as a director of the Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company and the American Insurance Company and a Trustee of Princeton University.[2] He was described as "an earnest Republican" who refused official positions on grounds of lack of time;[2] beginning in August 1917, he served as Chairman of the District Board for the Second Division of New Jersey under the War Department's administration of the Selective Service Law.[2]
Pitney published a book about the history of his family in 1925.[5] The University of Chicago holds a letter to Pitney from William Howard Taft, accepting an invitation to attend a celebration of the birth of George Washington.[10]