{{short description|American lawyer and legal writer}} {{Use American English|date=April 2026}} {{Use mdy dates|date=June 2025}} {{Infobox person | name = Boris Bittker | image = <!--(filename only)--> | caption = | birth_name = Boris Irving Bittker | birth_date = {{birth date|1916|11|28}} | birth_place = Rochester, New York, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|2005|9|8|1916|11|28}} | death_place = New Haven, Connecticut, U.S. | residence = | education = Cornell University (BA)<br/>Yale University (LLB) | doctoral_advisor = | academic_advisors = | doctoral_students = | notable_students = | known_for = | author_abbrev_bot = | author_abbrev_zoo = | influences = | influenced = | awards = | religion = | signature = <!--(filename only)--> | footnotes = |module = {{Infobox academic |embed=yes | discipline = Tax law | workplaces = Yale Law School}} }} '''Boris Irving Bittker''' (November 28, 1916 &ndash; September 8, 2005) was an American legal scholar. A professor at Yale Law School, he wrote textbooks and over one hundred articles on tax law.

Bittker was known as "the nation's preeminent authority on tax law".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Duboff |first1=Josh |title=Law scholar Bittker dies at age 88 |url=https://yaledailynews.com/articles/law-scholar-bittker-dies-at-age-88 |website=Yale Daily News |access-date=9 April 2026}}</ref>

== Early life and career == Born in Rochester, New York, Bittker attended Cornell University (class of 1938) and Yale Law School (class of 1941). After law school, Bittker clerked for Judge Jerome Frank of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. From 1942 to 1943 Bittker worked as an attorney for the Lend-Lease Administration in Washington, D.C.

On May 24, 1943, he joined the United States Army.<ref>"Index Record for Boris I Bittker WWII Army Enlistment Records", (Army Serial Number 32846131), ''Fold3 by Ancestry.com website''. Retrieved November 29, 2020.</ref> During the next two years Bittker fought and was wounded in World War II, receiving a Purple Heart. He served with the 42nd Infantry Division in France.<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/image/220088970 "Anne Stern Wed To Boris Bittker"], ''The Courier-News'', July 29, 1949, page 2.</ref>

Returning from Europe, Bittker returned to government service, working for the Office of the Alien Property Custodian. Bittker reluctantly returned to his alma mater as an assistant professor in 1946. Eventually he gained tenure in 1951, became a Southmayd Professor in 1958, and Sterling Professor of Law in 1970. He retired in 1983.

In 1973, Bittker wrote ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=omtBJfQxB_wC&q=the+case+for+black+reparations The Case for Black Reparations]'', inspired by SNCC leader James Forman, who in 1969 interrupted a church service to demand reparations for slavery. Bittker defended the spirit of Forman's appeal, but argued that a reparations lawsuit for school segregation had a stronger legal basis.

Bittker was also a dedicated environmentalist, serving as a trustee of the Natural Resources Defense Council.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Simon |first=John G. |date=2006 |title=Let Us Count the Ways: A Tribute to Boris Bittker |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20455637 |journal=The Yale Law Journal |volume=115 |issue=4 |pages=751–754 |jstor=20455637 |issn=0044-0094}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bittker |first=Boris |date=1983-03-16 |title=Why Is the Federal Income Tax so Complicated? |url=https://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/hartlecture/25/ |journal=Philip A. Hart Memorial Lecture}}</ref>

== Personal life == Bittker was married to Anne (died on February 2, 1997) and had two children, Susan and Daniel.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1997-02-27 |title=Paid Notice: Deaths BITTKER, ANNE S. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/02/27/classified/paid-notice-deaths-bittker-anne-s.html |access-date=2024-08-06 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

Boris Bittker died on September 8, 2005.<ref>{{Cite web |date=23 September 2005 |title=Boris Bittker, expert on tax law and adviser to many deans |url=http://archives.news.yale.edu/v34.n4/story14.html |access-date=2024-08-06 |website=Yale Bulletin & Calendar}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2006-09-01 |title=Yale Law School {{!}} YLS Mourns Death of Boris I. Bittker; Memorial Service Scheduled Dec. 11 |url=http://www.law.yale.edu/news/2061.htm |access-date=2024-08-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060901165422/http://www.law.yale.edu/news/2061.htm |archive-date=2006-09-01 }}</ref>

==Publications (selection)== *{{cite book |title=The Case for Black Reparations |year=1973 |publisher=Beacon Press |location=Boston |isbn=9780394480947}} *{{cite book |title=Federal Taxation of Income, Estates and Gifts |author=Lokken, Lawrence |year=1981 |publisher=Warren, Gorham & Lamont |location=Boston |isbn=0-88262-460-1 }} *{{cite book |title=Federal Income Taxation of Corporations and Shareholders |author=Eustice, James |year=1987 |edition=5th |orig-year=1959 |publisher=Warren, Gorham & Lamont |location=Boston |isbn=0-88712-991-9 }} *{{cite journal |year=1987 |title=Constitutional Limits on the Taxing Power of the Federal Government |journal=The Tax Lawyer |volume=41 |issue=1 |pages=3 }}

==References== {{reflist}} *{{cite journal |last=Pollak |first=Louis H. |author-link=Louis H. Pollak |year=2006 |title=Remembering Boris |journal=Yale Law Journal |volume=115 |pages=745 }} *{{cite journal |last=Simon |first=John G. |year=2006 |title=Let Us Count the Ways: A Tribute to Boris Bittker |journal=Yale Law Journal |volume=115 |pages=751 |url=http://www.yalelawjournal.org/tribute/let-us-count-the-ways-a-tribute-to-boris-bittker |access-date=10 March 2015 }} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20120205044744/http://www.law.yale.edu/YLR/pdfs/v53-1/531bittker.pdf Yale Law School obituary]

==External links== * [http://hdl.handle.net/10079/fa/mssa.ms.1869 Boris I. Bittker papers (MS 1869)]. Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library. {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bittker, Boris}} Category:1916 births Category:2005 deaths Category:Writers from Rochester, New York Category:American legal writers Category:20th-century American legal scholars Category:Cornell University alumni Category:Yale Law School alumni Category:Yale Law School faculty Category:Scholars of tax law Category:Yale Sterling Professors Category:United States Army personnel of World War II Category:United States Army soldiers

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