Guy K. Bard

Guy Kurtz Bard (October 24, 1895 – November 23, 1953) was a Pennsylvania educator who later became a judge of United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania from 1939 until 1952, when he resigned to be the Pennsylvania Democratic candidate for the United States Senate.

Early life, education, and career

Born in Lincoln, Pennsylvania, Bard was a School teacher in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania from 1911–12, and principal of the Warwick Township High School in Lititz, Pennsylvania from 1913-15. Bard received an A.B. from Franklin and Marshall College in 1916, where he was a member of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Delta Theta Phi, and the Xi Chapter of Phi Kappa Tau. From 1916-18, he was the supervising principal of Ephrata, Pennsylvania schools. He was in the United States Army at the end of World War I, from 1918–19, and he then returned to school and received an LL.B. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1922. He was a lawyer in private practice in Lancaster, Pennsylvania from 1922 to 1939 and served as chair of the Lancaster County Democratic Party, from 1925-34. In 1930, he was a candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania, and was a Pennsylvania delegate to the 1932 Democratic National Convention. He became the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in 1937, and was the Pennsylvania state attorney general from 1938-39.

Federal judicial service

On December 20, 1939, Bard received a recess appointment from President Franklin D. Roosevelt to a seat on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania vacated by Oliver Dickinson. Formally nominated on April 4, 1940, Bard was confirmed by the United States Senate on April 24, 1940, and received commission on April 29, 1940. Bard resigned from the court on July 16, 1952 to run for the U.S. Senate. Unsuccessful in that effort, Bard returned to private practice until his death the following year.

Bard is interred at Fairview Cemetery, Denver, Pennsylvania. A Guy Kurtz Bard Award is given at Millersville University to a senior political science major in even-numbered years and to a senior history major in odd-numbered years for outstanding ability in political science and history.

References

Additional sources

• Guy K. Bard at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.

External links

• Guy K. Bard at Find a Grave