Eugene Gerhart: Attorney's journey from WWII history to Broome County success
I worked for many years in the Information Services/Reference department of the Binghamton Public Library, which became the Broome County Public Library in 1985. One of my jobs in that department was to answer any inquiry that came our way — including those by telephone. Those calls could range from anything from what is my car worth to what is the gross national income of Argentina. Occasionally, some questions would come in that required a lot of research to answer (remember, this was pre-internet days).
One of the people calling with more difficult questions was Binghamton-area attorney Eugene Gerhart of Coughlin and Gerhart. He had one of the first speaker phones in the area and would call hands-free with a question concerning a quotation. I was aware he had written a book about legal quotations. He had written a first volume, and was working on a second volume. The questions were hard, but it gave us satisfaction when we found the answer. What I was not aware of was his esteemed career and role in American history.
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Eugene Gerhart was born in April 1912 in Brooklyn to H. Eugene and Mary Gerhart. He received his bachelor’s degree from Princeton, and after school became the secretary to Judge Manley Hudson at the League of Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. He received his law degree from Harvard Law School in 1937, and began to practice law in New Jersey in 1938. Gerhart married Mary Schreiber in 1939. When the United States entered the Second World War, Gerhart joined the United States Navy as lieutenant with the Judge Advocates Corps. It was a service that would serve him well over the next few years.
Part of his service as a member of JAG was to serve on the USS. Satterlee. Part of that ship’s crew was its Quartermaster, Henry Fonda, the actor. Those on the ship were not allowed to write home about Fonda, for fear the ship would be targeted. After the conclusion of the war, Gerhart became an aide to Robert Jackson. Jackson was already an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, but was granted a leave of absence by President Harry Truman to act as U.S. chief prosecutor at the International Military Tribunal, commonly called the Nuremberg Trials, in 1945 and 1946. The family later donated his naval uniform worn during this period to the Broome County Historical Society.
After the war, Gerhart and his family settled in Binghamton. He practiced law with various partners, including Richard Kuhnen and Jack Hummer, before becoming the founding partner of Coughlin and Gerhart. He lectured in business law at Triple Cities College and Harpur College. For many years, Eugene Gerhart was the general counsel for Columbia Mutual Life Insurance Company, from 1949 until 1983. He was chairman of the board of that company from 1970 until 1982.
Despite his busy schedule, he wrote several books, aside from three volumes on legal quotations. They included "America’s Advocate: Robert H. Jackson" (still considered the quintessential work on Jackson’s life), and "Robert H. Jackson: Lawyer’s Judge." Gerhart served on many other boards and organizations, and received many awards during his life.
In 1983, at the age of 71, Eugene Gerhart retired from his position at Columbia Mutual Life, but continued to practice law. In an article about him in this newspaper in 1998, he talked about continuing to practice at age 88. As he stated, he refused to “rust away.” On Oct. 27, 2007, Eugene Gerhart died at the age of 95. A long and full life that left a significant imprint on American jurisprudence and this community.
Course offered at SUNY Broome
A final self-promotion for my course – History of Broome County, which will begin on April 12 and run 6-8 p.m. for five Wednesdays for SUNY Broome’s Continuing Education Department. If you are interested in taking the course, please contact the department at 607-778-5012 or by going to www2.sunybroome.ed/conted to see the catalog and find it under Personal Enrichment. The cost of the course is $89 per person. The course covers from pre-history to the present, and I can assure you that there will be no tests — just some fun learning about our area.
Gerald Smith is a former Broome County historian. Email him at historysmiths@stny.rr.com.
This article originally appeared on Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin: Binghamton history: Eugene Gerhart had esteemed role during WWII
