Nathanson, Nathaniel L.

Variant names

Dates:

Birth 1908

Biographical notes:

Nathaniel Louis Nathanson was born in New Haven, Connecticut, on December 21, 1908, the son of Samuel Jacob and Lillian Dante Nathanson. He obtained his B.A. (1929) and LL.B. (1932) degrees from Yale and his S.J.D. degree (1933) at Harvard.

Nathanson served as law clerk for Circuit Judge Julian J. Mack (1933-1934) and for Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis (1934-1935). During 1935-1936 he was an attorney for the Securities Exchange Commission. Northwestern University appointed Nathanson assistant professor of law (1936), associate professor (1941) and professor (1946). He served as an associate general counsel in the Office of Price Administration during 1942-1945. Nathanson became Northwestern University's Frederick P. Vose Professor of Law in 1968, and professor emeritus in 1977.

From 1968-77, Nathanson was several times a visiting professor at the University of Washington and once at Arizona State University. After retirement he continued teaching at least one term a year at either the University of San Diego or at Northwestern. He also taught at Hastings College of Law. Nathanson held a Fulbright Lectureship in Japan in 1954-1955, and served as a visiting lecturer there in 1965.

Nathanson held many positions with governmental agencies and public service organizations. Important among these were memberships on the Illinois Public Utility Laws Commission, the Chicago Executive Committee of the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith and the Executive Board of the Illinois Division of the American Civil Liberties Union. In 1958-59 he was a consultant to the Indian Law Institute and from 1959 through 1975 served as an Institute member. Nathanson was for many years the American Representative Director and member of the Board of Directors of the Japanese American Society for Legal Studies. He was a council member, a public member and a consultant to the Administrative Conference of the United States.

Nathanson married Leah Smirnow on June 22, 1941; the couple had no children. He died in Wilmette, Illinois, on November 8, 1983.

From the guide to the Nathaniel L. Nathanson (1908-1983) Papers, 1924-1985, (Northwestern University Archives)