Edward L. Katzenbach

Who was Edward L. Katzenbach?

Edward Lawrence Katzenbach was the Attorney General of New Jersey from 1924 to 1929. He was the brother of New Jersey Supreme Court Justice Frank S. Katzenbach and the father of United States Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach.

Katzenbach was born in Trenton, New Jersey in 1878 to Frank Snowden Katzenbach and Augusta Katzenbach. He attended the State Model School and graduated from Princeton University in 1900. After graduation he was appointed a fellow and instructor in political economy. He then attended Harvard Law School and graduated in 1905.

In November 1911 he married Marie Louise Hilson who later became the first female president of the State Board of Education. They had two sons: Edward Lawrence Katzenbach, Jr., who served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Education and Manpower Resources under John F. Kennedy, and Nicholas Katzenbach, United States Attorney General and Under Secretary of State under Lyndon B. Johnson.

In 1922 Katzenbach was appointed by Governor Edward I. Edwards to the State Board of Institutions and Agencies. He resigned from the board in February 1924 when he was appointed by Governor George S. Silzer to be Attorney General.