William Huntington Kirkpatrick

William H. Kirkpatrick
Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania
In office 1927–1958
Appointed by	Calvin Coolidge
Preceded by	new seat
Succeeded by	Harold Kenneth Wood
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's 26th district
In office March 4, 1921 – March 3, 1923
Preceded by	Henry J. Steele
Succeeded by	Thomas W. Phillips, Jr.
Personal details
Born	(1885-10-02)October 2, 1885 Easton, Pennsylvania
Died	November 28, 1970(1970-11-28) (aged 85) Cumberstone, Maryland
Political party	Republican
Alma mater	Lafayette College University of Pennsylvania Law School

William Huntington Kirkpatrick (October 2, 1885 – November 28, 1970) was a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.

Biography

William H. Kirkpatrick (son of William Sebring Kirkpatrick) was born in Easton, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Lafayette College in Easton, in 1905 and attended the law department of the University of Pennsylvania in 1905 and 1906. He was admitted to the bar and commenced the practice of law in Easton in 1908. He served in the First World War as major and lieutenant colonel, judge advocate, and was a member of the board of review of courts-martial in the United States Army.

Kirkpatrick was elected as a Republican to the Sixty-seventh Congress. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1922. He resumed the practice of law. He was appointed in 1927 as judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and became chief judge in 1933. Kirkpatrick is remembered as "one of the unsung heroes of American corporate and securities law,"^[1] issuing early but influential decisions in Insurance Shares Corp. v. Northern Fiscal Corp.,^[2] which described circumstances in which a corporation's controlling shareholder has a fiduciary duty not to sell the control block to a looter, and Kardon v. National Gypsum Co.,^[3] first recognizing an implied private cause of action for Rule 10b-5 violations.

Kirkpatrick became a senior judge when he retired in 1958. He died in Cumberstone, Maryland. Interment was in Christ Church Cemetery in Owings Mills, Maryland.

References

• William Huntington Kirkpatrick at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress Retrieved on March 28, 2010
• The Political Graveyard
• William Huntington Kirkpatrick at Find a Grave