Sterry R. Waterman

Sterry Robinson Waterman (June 12, 1901 - February 6, 1984) was a lawyer and federal judge from Vermont.

Biography

Sterry Waterman was born in Taunton, Massachusetts on June 12, 1901. He graduated from St. Johnsbury Academy and received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Dartmouth College in 1922. He attended Harvard Law School and then moved to Washington, D.C. to accept a position with the federal Commissioner of Immigration while continuing his studies at George Washington University Law School. He passed the bar exam in 1926 needing to complete one course before graduating, ended his studies, and began to practice, first in Washington, D.C and later in St. Johnsbury, Vermont.

Active in Republican politics, he was State's Attorney for Caledonia County from 1933 to 1937 and Assistant Secretary of the Vermont State Senate from 1933 to 1940. He served as general counsel of the Vermont Unemployment Compensation Commission for four years, a delegate to the 1936 Republican National Convention, a member of the commission to investigate the Vermont Court System from 1935 to 1937, and a member of the Vermont Uniform State Laws Commission from 1938 to 1958.

In the 1930s and 1940s Waterman was a founder and leader of the Vermont Young Republicans, and was recognized as a leader of the progressive wing of Vermont's Republican party, which included George Aiken and Ernest Gibson, Jr. Waterman managed Aiken's successful 1936 campaign for Governor. In 1946 Waterman was an unsuccessful candidate for the United States Senate, losing the Republican primary to Ralph E. Flanders, who went on to win the general election.

In 1955, President Dwight D. Eisenhower nominated Waterman to serve as a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, succeeding to the "Vermont seat" on the court previously occupied by Judge Harrie B. Chase who had taken senior status. Vermont's Senators, Aiken and Flanders, had initially been willing to recommend Gibson, but Gibson preferred to remain on the District Court so that he would not have to leave Vermont. They then recommended Waterman, who was opposed by conservative Republicans, which caused Eisenhower to request that they submit another recommendation. Aiken and Flanders persisted until Waterman was confirmed by the United States Senate, and he served for 15 years before assuming senior status in 1970.

In 1977 Waterman received his J.D. degree from Vermont Law School, which was conferred after the trustees, faculty and administration agreed that his writings while serving as a judge satisfied the requirements for the course he had not completed before passing the bar exam.

Waterman was a longtime trustee of both St. Johnsbury Academy and Vermont Law School, and served as president of the board at each institution.

Death and burial

He died in St. Johnsbury on February 6, 1984 and was buried at Mount Pleasant Cemetery in St. Johnsbury.

Awards and honors

Waterman received several honorary degrees, including: Dartmouth College (LL.D., 1963); Harvard Law School (LL.D., 1969); George Washington University Law School (LL.D., 1969); University of Vermont (LL.D., 1972); and New York University School of Law (LL.D., 1979). His personal and official papers are archived at the University of Vermont. Vermont Law School maintains a scholarship and lecture series in Waterman's name, and the school's Waterman Hall is named for him.

External links

• Sterry R. Waterman at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a public domain publication of the Federal Judicial Center.
• Sterry R. Waterman at Find a Grave
• Sterry R. Waterman; U.S. Appeals Judge Served for 28 Years. Joseph B. Treaster, New York Times, February 9, 1984

Legal offices
Preceded by Harrie B. Chase	Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit 1955-1970	Succeeded by James Lowell Oakes