Frank Morey Coffin (July 11, 1919 – December 7, 2009) was an American

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

from

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...

and a

United States circuit judge In the United States, federal judges are judges who serve on courts established under Article Three of the U.S. Constitution. They include the chief justice and the associate justices of the U.S. Supreme Court, the circuit judges of the U.S. Cou ...

of the

United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit (in case citations, 1st Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts: * District of Maine * District of Massachusetts * ...

Education and career

Born on July 11, 1919, in Lewiston,

, Coffin received an

Artium Baccalaureus Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree in 1940 from Bates College. He completed graduate instruction in Industrial Administration in 1943 from

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...

and a

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

in 1947 from

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

. He was a lieutenant in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

from 1943 to 1946. He was a

law clerk A law clerk or a judicial clerk is a person, generally someone who provides direct counsel and assistance to a lawyer or judge by researching issues and drafting legal opinions for cases before the court. Judicial clerks often play significant ...

for Judge John David Clifford Jr. of the

United States District Court for the District of Maine The U.S. District Court for the District of Maine (in case citations, D. Me.) is the U.S. district court for the state of Maine. The District of Maine was one of the original thirteen district courts established by the Judiciary Act of 178 ...

from 1947 to 1949. He was corporation counsel for Lewiston from 1949 to 1952. He was in private practice in Lewiston from 1946 to 1953. He was in private practice in

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

, Maine from 1953 to 1956. He was a

United States representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

from Maine from 1957 to 1961. He was the Managing Director of the Development Loan Fund in 1961. He was the Deputy Administrator of the

United States Agency for International Development The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. With a budget of over $27 bi ...

from 1961 to 1964. He was United States Representative to the development assistance committee of the

Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; french: Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques, ''OCDE'') is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries ...

from 1964 to 1965.

United States representative

Coffin served as chairman of the Maine Democratic state committee from 1954 to 1956 and was elected as a Democrat to the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

in 1956. He was elected to the 85th and 86th Congresses, serving from January 3, 1957 until January 3, 1961. He did not seek re-election in the 1960 election, choosing instead to embark on an unsuccessful campaign for Governor of Maine.

Federal judicial service

Coffin was nominated by President Lyndon B. Johnson on September 15, 1965, to a seat on the

vacated by Judge John Patrick Hartigan. He was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

on October 1, 1965, and received his commission on October 2, 1965. He served as a board member of the

Federal Judicial Center The Federal Judicial Center is the education and research agency of the United States federal courts. It was established by in 1967, at the recommendation of the Judicial Conference of the United States. According to , the main areas of respo ...

from 1971 to 1972. He was a member of the

Judicial Conference of the United States The Judicial Conference of the United States, formerly known as the Conference of Senior Circuit Judges, was created by the United States Congress in 1922 with the principal objective of framing policy guidelines for administration of judicial cour ...

from 1972 to 1983 He served as Chief Judge from 1972 to 1983. He assumed

senior status Senior status is a form of semi-retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the Federal judiciary of the United States, federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of servi ...

on February 1, 1989. He took inactive senior status in the fall of 2006. His service terminated on December 7, 2009, due to his death.

Death

Coffin died on December 7, 2009 at Maine Medical Center in Portland from complications following surgery to repair an

aortic aneurysm An aortic aneurysm is an enlargement (dilatation) of the aorta to greater than 1.5 times normal size. They usually cause no symptoms except when ruptured. Occasionally, there may be abdominal, back, or leg pain. The prevalence of abdominal aortic ...

.Sara Lepro and Tim Paradis
Maine federal appeals Judge Coffin dies at 90
'' Nashua Telegraph''. Retrieved on December 8, 2009.

Publications

Coffin is the author of four books: ''Witness for AID'' (Houghton Mifflin 1964); ''The Ways of a Judge: Views from the Federal Appellate Bench'' (Houghton Mifflin 1980); ''A Lexicon of Oral Advocacy'' (National Institute of Trial Advocacy 1985); ''On Appeal: Courts, Lawyering and Judging'' (W.W. Norton 1994).

References

Sources

; retrieved February 6, 2008. *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Coffin, Frank Morey 1919 births 2009 deaths Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit United States court of appeals judges appointed by Lyndon B. Johnson 20th-century American judges United States Navy personnel of World War II United States Navy officers American legal writers American artists Politicians from Lewiston, Maine Politicians from South Portland, Maine Military personnel from Maine Harvard Business School alumni Harvard Law School alumni Bates College alumni Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Maine 20th-century American politicians