Herman Ekern

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Herman L. Ekern (1872–1954) was a Wisconsin politician. He was born in 1872 near Pigeon Falls, Wisconsin. He received a law degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1894, and five years later was elected district attorney of Trempealeau County. He served three terms in the Wisconsin State Assembly, from 1903 until 1907, and was the speaker of the Assembly in his final term. During his time in the Assembly, he was noted for helping design Wisconsin's life insurance code. From 1911 until 1915, he served as Wisconsin's insurance commissioner. Afterwards, he helped form a law partnership which specialized in insurance cases and helped write the Federal Soldiers' and Sailors' War Risk Insurance Act.

Ekern later returned to his political career, serving as Wisconsin's Attorney General from 1923 until 1927. After Lieutenant Governor Henry Gunderson resigned in 1937, Governor Philip La Follette named Ekern Lieutenant Governor the following year. The appointment was challenged and upheld in State ex rel. Martin v. Ekern. After his term ended in 1939, Ekern served on the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin until 1943. He died in 1954.

[edit] References

Wisconsin Constitutional Officers; Lieutenant Governors (PDF). State of Wisconsin Blue Book 2005–2006 31. Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau (July 2005). Retrieved on October 9, 2007.
Herman L. Ekern. Office of the Lieutenant Governor. Retrieved on October 9, 2007.