Born: June 14, 1897
Died: 1983
Married: Linda Gale Lyon
Children:
John Van Voorhis was a lawyer, a politician and a New York Supreme Court Judge. His wife's family, the Lyons, owned a camp on Deer Island in Upper Saranac Lake. He and his wife also purchased the Wawbeek Hotel property, and donated it to St. Lawrence University in 1975.
He was the son of Eugene Van Voorhis and Allis (Sherman) Van Voorhis. He graduated A.B. from Yale College in 1919. He was admitted to the bar in 1922, and commenced the practice of law at Rochester, New York. On June 2, 1928, he married Linda G. Lyon (ca. 1902-1989), and they had three children. He was Town Attorney of Irondequoit from 1928 to 1933, and in 1936.
In 1936, he was elected to the New York Supreme Court (7th District), and re-elected in 1950. He sat on the Appellate Division (4th Dept.) from 1947 on.
In 1944, he ran on the Republican ticket for the New York Court of Appeals, but was defeated by Democrat Marvin R. Dye.
On April 23, 1953, Van Voorhis was appointed by Governor Thomas E. Dewey to fill the vacancy caused by the appointment of Edmund H. Lewis as Chief Judge. In November 1953, Lewis was elected Chief Judge, and on January 1, 1954, Van Voorhis was re-appointed to the seat. In November 1954, he ran on the Republican and Democratic tickets to succeed himself, and was elected. He retired from the bench at the end of 1967 when he reached the constitutional age limit of 70 years.
Afterwards he resumed the practice of law and taught at New York Law School. 1
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Footnotes
1. Based on a Wikipedia article.
