Barron Patterson McCune

Who was Barron Patterson McCune?

Barron Patterson McCune was a United States federal judge.

He was born in West Newton, Pennsylvania in 1915 and attended Washington and Jefferson College in Washington, Pennsylvania. As a student, he submitted jokes told by history professor Dr. Alfred Sweet to Judge magazine, splitting the $2 check from the publication. He was a member of Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity, as well as the Buskin Club, a theater organization. McCune received an A.B. from Washington and Jefferson College in 1935. As McCune then took a job with Firestone Tire and Rubber Company in Akron, Ohio, his father encouraged him to study law. He entered University of Pennsylvania Law School and earned an LL.B. in 1938.

After graduation, he rejected a job offer in Philadelphia, but he felt that the $1,800 salary wasn't enough to live on. He returned to Washington, Pennsylvania in 1939 to work in his own private practice, serving in the U.S. Naval Reserve as a gunnery officer from 1942 to 1948. In 1964, he became a judge in the Court of Common Pleas in Washington County, Pennsylvania. On December 8, 1970, he was nominated by President Richard Nixon to a new seat on the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania; he was confirmed by the United States Senate on December 16, 1970. He assumed senior status in 1985.