# Harvard Law School ## expand\_more Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest continually operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. ### Class of 1911 expand\_more #### Gabriel Isaac Lewis Gabriel Isaac Lewis (1883–1938) was born at Hobart Tasmania, the son of Henry Lewis (born in Germany) and Annie Cohen (born in England). After the death of his father, the family moved to Wellington, New Zealand to live with his mother’s parents (1890). His mother married Maurice Ziman (January 1896) and the new family emigrated to New York (August 1896). In 1899, the family returned to New Zealand leaving the 16-year-old Gabriel in the United States to support himself. He is recorded as a member of the debating team of the Young Men’s Hebrew Association Literary Society (1902). He put himself through evening high school in Newark and New York, before attending Phillips Exeter Academy (1902–1905) on scholarships. In May 1905, Gabriel Isaac Lewis applied for financial age to attend Harvard College. John C. Kirtland Jr. wrote in support of his application that he was “easily the most able and capable man coming to Harvard from Exeter this year … He is of Jewish extraction, a native of New Zealand, and entirely dependent upon himself.” He did not graduate with his Class in June 1908 because his bills were unpaid, but entered Harvard Law School in September 1908 and had his undergraduate degree conferred in March 1909. He graduated LL.B from Harvard Law School in 1911. After graduation, Gabriel Isaac Lewis lived and practised in New York. He served in the War Department, Washington DC during American involvement in the Great War. Of this service he wrote: “In July, 1918, I almost landed in the Military Intelligence Bureau, but those in charge discovered at the last moment that I was neither military nor intelligent.” He was chairman of the ethics committee of the New York County Lawyers Association and a member of the ethics committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York. He died of a stroke while walking to a meeting at the Young Men’s Hebrew Association. He was the brother of the sculptor Betty Lewis Isaacs. ### Class of 1931 expand\_more #### Thomas Penberthy Fry Thomas Penberthy Fry (1904–1952) was born in Brisbane, Queensland. After obtaining a B.A. and M.A. from the University of Queensland he was awarded a travelling scholarship which took him to Magdalen College, Oxford from where he graduated with a Bachelor of Civil Law (1927) and qualified as a barrister. He obtained the diploma of L'Academie de Droit International at the Hague (1928) and a Commonwealth Fund Fellowship (1929) which took him to Harvard Law School from which he received a Doctor of Juridical Science (SJD) in 1931. He was admitted to the Queensland Bar and became a lecturer at the new law school of the University of Queensland. During, the Second World War he served as a judge-advocate in the Middle East and consolidated the laws of Papua and New Guinea. At the time of his death, he was engaged in a review of the laws of Papua and New Guinea for the Department of Territories in the Australian Commonwealth government. ### Class of 1935 expand\_more #### Neil Given Ferguson Neil Given Ferguson (1908–1958) was born in Melbourne, the son of the Deputy Registrar of Trade Marks. He obtained a B.A. LL.B. from the University of Sydney and then a Master of Law from Harvard (1935) with theses on *Separation and Delegation of Powers of Government in Australia* and *Nationality and Naturalization Laws of the United States*. He also obtained a Doctor of Laws from Georgetown before becoming Professor of Law at Boston College. During World War II he worked as an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. At the time of his death, he was a director of the American Credit Indemnity Company of New York. ### HLS Graduates by Year expand\_more (See Individual Bio Statements at Left) #### 1911 Gabriel Isaac Lewis #### 1931 Thomas Penberthy Fry #### 1935 Neil Given Ferguson