Harry F. Weyher Jr. (August 19, 1921 – March 27, 2002) was an American lawyer. Born in Wilson, North Carolina, Weyher attended the

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referred to as the UNC Sy ...

. After serving in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, he graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1949, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review. Early in his career, he worked for Cravath, Swaine & Moore and served as special assistant attorney general to the New York State Crime Commission. In 1954, he co-founded the New York City firm Olwine, Connelly, Chase, O'Donnell & Weyher. He became an adjunct associate professor at New York University School of Law and a member of

the Society of the Cincinnati The Society of the Cincinnati is a fraternal, hereditary society founded in 1783 to commemorate the American Revolutionary War that saw the creation of the United States. Membership is largely restricted to descendants of military officers wh ...

. Later in his professional career, he was " of counsel" to the law firm of Hollyer, Brady, Smith, Troxell, Barret, Rockett, Hines, and Mone. He died in

La Grange, North Carolina La Grange is a town in Lenoir County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 2,873 based on the 2010 census. La Grange is located in North Carolina's Inner Banks region. Geography La Grange is located at (35.308583, -77.792118). Ac ...

in an area where his family has lived for generations.

World War II

During World War II, Weyher served in the European theater in the U.S. Army, becoming a first sergeant and earning two battle stars. According to Harvard Law School classmate Leon Baker, Weyher "was the first sergeant of a secret 120-member elite intelligence unit, which operated behind enemy lines." In 1945, while Allied forces were attempting to seize the

Arnhem bridge John Frost Bridge (''John Frostbrug'' in Dutch) is the road bridge over the Lower Rhine at Arnhem, in the Netherlands. The bridge is named after Major-General John Dutton Frost (1912–1993), who commanded the British forces that reached and d ...

, Weyher entered the deserted town of

Remagen Remagen ( ) is a town in Germany in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, in the district of Ahrweiler. It is about a one-hour drive from Cologne, just south of Bonn, the former West German capital. It is situated on the left (western) bank of the ...

and discovered a bridge over the Rhine that had not been destroyed by German troops. "Nine weeks after the initial breakthrough at the Remagen bridge, the German army surrendered", wrote Baker.

Pioneer Fund involvement

From 1958 until his death in 2002, Weyher was president of the

Pioneer Fund Pioneer Fund is an American non-profit foundation established in 1937 "to advance the scientific study of heredity and human differences". The organization has been described as racist and white supremacist in nature. One of its first project ...

, a nonprofit eugenics foundation. His interest in the Pioneer Fund originated from its opposition to the Supreme Court's decision in ''

Brown v. Board of Education ''Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka'', 347 U.S. 483 (1954), was a landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional, even if the segrega ...

''. Weyher was personally recruited by

Wickliffe Draper Wickliffe Preston Draper (August 9, 1891 – 1972) was an American political activist. He was an ardent eugenicist and lifelong advocate of strict racial segregation. In 1937, he founded the Pioneer Fund for eugenics and heredity research; he l ...

, the founder of the Pioneer Fund. During his time as president of the Pioneer Fund, Weyher directed over $3.5 million to eugenics researchers.

References

1921 births 2002 deaths Harvard Law School alumni North Carolina lawyers People from Wilson, North Carolina University of North Carolina alumni United States Army personnel of World War II People from La Grange, North Carolina 20th-century American lawyers {{US-mil-bio-stub