Pierce, Samuel R., 1922-2000

<p>Samuel Pierce was born August 8, 1922 in Glen Cove, New York, and served in the U.S. Army during and after the Second World War (1943-1946). He obtained his A.B. with honors from Cornell (1947) and earned his LL.M. in taxation (1952) at New York University.</p>

<p>Pierce was first lieutenant judge advocate general corps, reserve (1950-1952), assistant district attorney of New York (1949-1953), assistant U.S. attorney, Southern District New York (1953-1955), assistant undersecretary of labor (1955-1956), and he served as associate counsel of the Council of the Judicial Subcommittee on Anti-Trust for the U.S. Supreme Court (1956).For a brief time, Pierce was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1956-1957). He then earned his J.D. and conducted postgraduate work at Yale Law School from 1957 to 1958. Pierce also served as a judge of the New York Court of General Sessions (1959-1961). He was very active in practicing private law, doing so on and off for well over twenty years (1957-1959, 1961-1970, and 1973-1981), at one time becoming a partner of Battle, Fowler, Joffin, Pierce and Khoel. He was also on the faculty of New York University from 1958 to 1970.</p>

<p>Pierce worked as general counsel and head legal director of the U.S. Department of the Treasury from 1970 to 1973 and served as secretary of housing and urban development in the Reagan administration from 1981 to 1989.</p>

<p>Lawyer, judge and businessman Samuel Riley Pierce Jr., was the first African American partner in a major New York law firm, the first African American member of a Fortune 500 board, and one of the first African Americans to argue a case before the U.S. Supreme Court. His career ended when he was investigated for corruption while serving as the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) under President Ronald Reagan.</p>

<p>Pierce was born in 1922 in Glen Cove, New York. He received a football scholarship to Cornell University. After serving in World War II, where he was the only black American agent in the U.S. Army’s Criminal Investigation Division of the Mediterranean Theater of Operations, he returned to Cornell and graduated with honors in 1947, then earned a J.D. from Cornell Law School and an LL.M. in taxation from New York University School of Law.</p>

<p>Pierce began his career in New York in 1949 first as an assistant district attorney and then as an assistant U.S. Attorney. In 1955, he moved to Washington, D.C. for several public office appointments and later taught law at Yale University and New York University. In 1959 and again 1960, New York Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller appointed Pierce to fill two judgeship vacancies. When Pierce failed in his re-election bids for the seats, he returned to private law practice where he specialized in labor, tax, and antitrust cases.</p>

<p>Samuel Riley Pierce Jr. (September 8, 1922 – October 31, 2000) was an American attorney and politician who served as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from January 23, 1981 until January 20, 1989, during the administration of Ronald Reagan.</p>

<p>Born in Glen Cove, New York, Pierce was an Eagle Scout and recipient of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award from the Boy Scouts of America. Pierce was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity and Alpha Phi Omega service fraternity. He was also elected to Cornell's oldest senior honor society, the Sphinx Head Society. He was a member of the New York Young Republican Club.</p>

<p>Pierce served in the United States Army's Criminal Investigation Division during World War II. Pierce graduated from Cornell University in 1947 and received a law degree from Cornell Law School in 1949. He earned a master of laws degree from New York University School of Law in 1952.</p>