Herbert William Christenberry

Herbert William Christenberry, Sr.
Herbert William Christenberry, Sr.
Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana
	In office; 1949–1967
Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana
	In office; December 20, 1947 – October 5, 1975
Appointed by	Harry S. Truman
Preceded by	Adrian J. Caillouet
Succeeded by	Charles Schwartz, Jr.
Personal details
Born	December 11, 1897; New Orleans, Louisiana
Died	October 5, 1975 (aged 77); Kentwood, Louisiana
Children	Herbert Christenberry, Jr.; Carolyn Christenberry Walsh
Alma mater	New York University; Loyola University New Orleans School of Law LL.B.
Profession	Judge

Herbert William Christenberry, Sr. (December 11, 1897 – October 5, 1975), was a United States District Judge for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

Biography

Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, Christenberry attended New York University and was in the United States Navy from 1917 to 1918 during World War I. In 1924, he obtained an LL.B. from Loyola University New Orleans School of Law. He was in private practice in New Orleans from 1924 to 1933. He was an assistant attorney of the Board of Commissioners, Port of New Orleans, from 1933 to 1935. He was a deputy commissioner on the Louisiana Debt Moratorium Commission in 1935, and from 1935 to 1937 was an assistant district attorney of Orleans Parish. He was an assistant U.S. Attorney of the Eastern District of Louisiana from 1937 to 1942, and was then the United States Attorney for that district from 1942 to 1947.

District Court service

On July 11, 1947, Christenberry was nominated by President Harry S. Truman to a seat on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana vacated by Adrian J. Caillouet. Christenberry was confirmed by the United States Senate on December 18, 1947, and received his commission two days later. He served as chief judge from 1949 to 1967, and continued on the court thereafter until his death, in Kentwood in Tangipahoa Parish. He was succeeded on the bench by Charles Schwartz, Jr.

From 1966 to 1968, Christenberry's bailiff and law clerk was the later State Representative and U.S. District Judge A. J. McNamara of Jefferson Parish.

Personal life

Judge Christenberry had two children, Carolyn C. Walsh, and Herbert, Jr. (1930-2014), a graduate of Jesuit High School (1948) and the Loyola University New Orleans College of Law (1957), who was the attorney for the Orleans Parish Levee Board and the New Orleans Aviation Board. In 1965, the junior Christenberry was vice chairman of the Battle of New Orleans Sesquicentennial Commission. He was a recipient of the Order of St. Louis from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans.^[1]