Henry Friendly

Josef Myer Freundlich (1803–1880), Friendly's great-grandfather, was a prosperous farmer whose estate burned down in 1831; after being denied help by his neighbors because he was Jewish, Josef grew affluent from livestock dealing.

Heinrich Freundlich, Friendly's grandfather, immigrated to the United States in 1852 to avoid conscription and anglicised the surname to Friendly.

Heinrich worked as a businessman in Cuba, New York, beginning as a peddler.

He progressed to own a carriage factory before the birth of Friendly's father, Myer Henry Friendly, who would migrate to Elmira in his youth.

Friendly demonstrated precocious abilities in reading and diction at a young age.

By age seven, he could read any book intended for adults.

His mother, Leah Hallo, was a serious and reserved bardolater with an excellent memory who became skilled at contract bridge.

She played an intimate role in his upbringing, devoting herself to raising her son and taking him to see evening performances of Gilbert and Sullivan; Friendly later recalled, "there was absolutely nothing she wouldn't have done for me."

His father, by contrast, was strict and distant with an inclination towards perfection, impressing high standards of work upon him.

Their marriage was initially an unhappy one, with Leah leaving at one point to move in with her sister, although Myer eventually persuaded her to return.

Regarding their collective relationship, Friendly remarked that "we didn’t have a very close family."

The Friendly family resided in the primarily Christian, western side of Elmira, opposite of the eastern Jewish community.

They held various civic positions in town, lived comfortably, and were known as active members of the local German-Jewish population.

A monograph in Elmira commemorates Friendly's grandfather, who donated generously to the Jewish community, as "one of the leading men of Elmira in the late nineteenth century."

Though not devoutly religious, the family attended a Reform temple alongside other German Jews, and they held a bar mitzvah for Friendly.

Myer believed that anti-semitism was commonplace in Elmira, though his son could not remember any instances of prejudice except for the lack of Jews in the country club and their exclusion from Christian neighbors.

Friendly himself had predominantly Christian friends, a quality which was uncharacteristic of other Jews.

Later in life, he would find no redeeming qualities in organized religion.

As a child, Friendly was docile and obedient, gaining a reputation for his earnest behavior.

Outside of school, he frequented the outdoors, often walking to Mark Twain's study, and visited a great-aunt who played scores of Richard Wagner.

He committed himself to reading avidly and enjoyed playing baseball, though he was also overweight and bore unathletic traits.

Myer, a sportsman and fisherman, took his son on forays that Friendly would ultimately come to reject, which disappointed him.

Friendly also lacked dexterity; after puncturing his hand with a pencil, he lost function of his left-hand little finger and contracted a serious case of blood-poisoning.

Henry Jacob Friendly (July 3, 1903 – March 11, 1986) was an American jurist who served as a federal circuit judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 1959 until his death in 1986.

Friendly was one of the most prominent U.S. judges of the 20th century, and his opinions are some of the most-cited in federal jurisprudence.

Friendly was born in Elmira, New York, on July 3, 1903, the only child of a middle class German-Jewish family.

He was descended from Southern German dairy farmers in Wittelshofen, Bavaria, that had adopted the surname of Freundlich.

In 1919, he graduated from the academy as the class valedictorian, attaining the highest scores ever recorded in the New York Regents Examinations.

It was at Elmira that Friendly developed core personal values, learning to value culture and responsibility.

However, his reclusivity, combined with a lack of close relationships, contributed to emotional issues that would persist over the course of his life.

During this period, he experienced his first serious exposure to law as a young teenager while serving as an expert witness in a trial brought by his father for a breach of warranty.

Eye problems developed during boyhood, which would advance to retinal detachment in 1936, further complicated his health.

These difficulties with vision would follow him into adulthood, necessitating surgeries accompanied by multiple hospitalizations.

The Friendlys wintered in Florida, causing him to miss periods of school.

Nonetheless, Friendly skipped multiple grades and took an interest in American history and English literature, though avoided science; his particular interests were in English writers George Eliot and William Makepeace Thackeray.

He attended the Elmira Free Academy, excelling academically as an involved student, and came to praise the system there.

He fondly remembered the school as a place with "very devoted and dedicated teachers who worked for a pittance."

Friendly was the editor-in-chief of the academy's newspaper, The Vindex, in addition to having engagements on the student council, debate team, and its "Class Song and Motto Committee."

At the onset of World War I, Friendly eagerly supported the German cause, but switched sides when the United States entered the war.

He abandoned his initial support for Germany and began soliciting war bonds in nearby towns while still enrolled at Elmira.