Bettman, Gilbert, 1918-2000

Gilbert Bettman, Jr. was a judge, vice mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio, Attorney General, and Supreme Court Justice of Ohio. Bettman was also the son of a judge and great-grandson of Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise. Bettman graduated from Walnut Hills High School and Harvard University, where he received a bachelor's degree in 1938 and a law degree in 1942. He served in World War II, entered the Army as a private in 1942. He received a bronze star for valor in 1944.

After World War II, Bettman practiced law in Cincinnati and married Elizabeth Robb Evers, the young widow of a Marine Corp captain and a faculty member of Barnard College, in 1946. Mrs. Bettman became a faculty member at the University of Cincinnati. Bettman was elected to the Ohio House of Representatives and then to the Hamilton County Municipal Court in 1956. Bettman also served on the Hamilton County Common Please Court and the Ohio First District Court of Appeals. He retired in 1992 at age 75, but continued to remain active as a mediator until his death.

A life-long Republican, Bettman was known for his controversial stands including his leniency of Vietnam protesters. Bettman was involved with the Cincinnati community with the Central Psychiatric Clinic, Boy Scouts, Big Brothers, Council on World Affairs, Hamilton County Republican Party, Disabled American Veterans, Mayor's Friendly Relations Committee, Jewish Community Center, Israel Bonds, B'nai B'rith and Isaac M. Wise Temple brotherhood.

From the guide to the Gilbert Bettman Jr. papers, 1902-2000, 1902-2000, (University of Cincinnati, Archives and Rare Books Library)