Name Ralph Freeman | Died March 29, 1990 | |
Education University of Michigan Law School, University of Michigan | ||
Ralph McKenzie Freeman (May 5, 1902, - March 29, 1990) was a judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.
Freeman attended the University of Michigan, where he was a member of Phi Kappa Tau fraternity, and earned his LL.B. degree in 1926 from the University of Michigan Law School. He was a prosecuting attorney in Genesee County, Michigan from 1928 to 1932 and was in private practice in Flint, Michigan prior to his appointment to the federal bench in 1954. Freeman also served on the Flint Board of Education from 1935 to 1949 and was its president for four years. The Ralph M. Freeman Elementary School in Flint was named in his honor.
On May 10, 1954, Freeman was nominated by U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower to a newly created seat and was confirmed by the United States Senate on June 8, 1954. He received his commission on June 10, 1954. Freeman served as chief judge from 1967 to 1972 and assumed senior status on July 1, 1973. He served in that capacity, and continued to carry a full caseload, until his death at the age of 87 in Flushing, Michigan.
He was married to Emmalyn Ellis in 1938 and the Freemans had no children. Judge and Mrs. Freeman established a number of scholarship funds at various Michigan schools, and a law library for federal judges is named in Ralph Freeman's memory.