Henry Alvan Mentz Jr. (November 10, 1920 – January 23, 2005) was a

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...

of the

United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana (in case citations, E.D. La.) is a United States federal court based in New Orleans. Appeals from the Eastern District of Louisiana are taken to the United States Court of A ...

Education and career

Born on November 10, 1920, in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

, Mentz received a

Bachelor of Arts 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 year ...

degree from

Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into a comprehensive pub ...

in 1941 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 Ch ...

from the Paul M. Hebert Law Center at

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 nea ...

in 1943. He worked in private practice in New Orleans in 1943. He served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

from 1943 to 1946. He served in private practice in Hammond, Louisiana from 1946 to 1982. Concurrent with his private practice, he served as a staff attorney for the

Shell Oil Company Shell USA, Inc. (formerly Shell Oil Company, Inc.) is the United States-based wholly owned subsidiary of Shell plc, a UK-based transnational corporation " oil major" which is amongst the largest oil companies in the world. Approximately 18,0 ...

from 1947 to 1948, as an assistant to the executive counsel to the Governor of Louisiana in 1948 and as the city attorney of Hammond from 1954 to 1961.

Federal judicial service

Mentz was nominated by President Ronald Reagan on June 2, 1982, to a seat on the

vacated by Judge Lansing Leroy Mitchell. 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 June 24, 1982, and received commission on June 25, 1982. He assumed

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

on July 1, 1992. His service terminated on December 31, 2001, due to retirement.

Death

Mentz died on January 23, 2005, in New Orleans.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mentz, Henry Alvan Jr. 1920 births 2005 deaths Tulane University alumni Louisiana State University alumni Lawyers from New Orleans Military personnel from Louisiana American Episcopalians People from Hammond, Louisiana Louisiana Republicans Judges of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana United States district court judges appointed by Ronald Reagan 20th-century American judges United States Army personnel of World War II