{{Short description|American judge (1924–2020)}} {{More citations needed|date=March 2023}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = | honorific_suffix = | image = LawrencePierce.jpg | alt = | caption = | office = [[Senior status|Senior Judge]] of the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit]] | term_start = January 1, 1990 | term_end = March 31, 1995 | office1 = Judge of the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit]] | term_start1 = November 18, 1981 | term_end1 = January 1, 1990 | nominator1 = | appointer1 = [[List of federal judges appointed by Ronald Reagan|Ronald Reagan]] | predecessor1 = [[Murray Gurfein]] | successor1 = [[Joseph M. McLaughlin]] | office2 = Judge of the [[United States District Court for the Southern District of New York]] | term_start2 = May 20, 1971 | term_end2 = November 30, 1981 <!--Termination date per FJC Bio, reflects oath date at Second Circuit--> | nominator2 = | appointer2 = [[List of federal judges appointed by Richard Nixon|Richard Nixon]] | predecessor2 = [[William Bernard Herlands]] | successor2 = [[Shirley Wohl Kram]] | pronunciation = | birth_name = Lawrence Warren Pierce | birth_date = {{Birth date|1924|12|31}}<ref name="Birth">{{cite book|title = The New York Times Biographical Service|work = [[New York Times]]|volume = 12|year = 1981|page = 1264|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=jDwoAQAAIAAJ&q=Lawrence+Warren+Pierce+December+31,+1924}}</ref> | birth_place = [[Philadelphia]], [[Pennsylvania]], U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|2020|02|05|1924|12|31}} | death_place = [[Boca Raton]], [[Florida]], U.S. | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = | citizenship = | party = | other_party = | height = | spouse = | partner = | relations = | children = | parents = | mother = | father = | relatives = | education = {{nowrap|[[Saint Joseph's University]] ([[Bachelor of Science|BS]])}}<br>[[Fordham University School of Law|Fordham University]] ([[Bachelor of Laws|LLB]]) | alma_mater = | occupation = | profession = | known_for = | salary = | net_worth = | cabinet = | committees = | portfolio = | awards = | signature = | signature_alt = | website = <!--Embedded templates / Footnotes--> | footnotes = }} '''Lawrence Warren Pierce''' (December 31, 1924 – February 5, 2020) was a [[United States federal judge|United States circuit judge]] of the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit]] and a former United States district judge of the [[United States District Court for the Southern District of New York]].
==Education and career== Pierce was born in [[Philadelphia]], [[Pennsylvania]]. He received a [[Bachelor of Science]] degree from [[St. Joseph's University]] in 1948. He received a [[Bachelor of Laws]] from [[Fordham University School of Law]] in 1951. He was in the [[United States Army]] from 1943 to 1946 and served in the [[92nd Infantry Division (United States)|92nd Infantry Division]] in Italy. He became a sergeant. He was a staff attorney of the [[Legal Aid Society]] of [[New York City]] from 1951 to 1953. He was an assistant district attorney of [[Kings County, New York|Kings County]], [[New York (state)|New York]] from 1954 to 1961. He was a deputy commissioner of police, New York City from 1961 to 1963. He was the Director of the New York State Division for Youth from 1963 to 1966. He was Chairman of the New York State Narcotic Addiction Control Commission from 1966 to 1970. He was a visiting professor of the Graduate School of Criminal Justice at the [[University at Albany, SUNY]] from 1970 to 1971.<ref name="fjc.gov">{{FJC Bio|nid=1386341|inline=yes}}</ref>
==Federal judicial service==
Pierce was nominated by President [[Richard Nixon]] on April 26, 1971, to a seat on the [[United States District Court for the Southern District of New York]] vacated by Judge [[William Bernard Herlands]]. He was confirmed by the [[United States Senate]] on May 20, 1971, and received commission the same day. His service was terminated on November 30, 1981, due to elevation to the Second Circuit.<ref name="fjc.gov"/>
Pierce was nominated by President [[Ronald Reagan]] on September 8, 1981, to a seat on the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit]] vacated by Judge [[Murray Gurfein]]. He was confirmed by the Senate on November 18, 1981, and received commission the same day. Pierce became the third [[African-American]] to serve on the Second Circuit, following [[Thurgood Marshall]] and [[Amalya Lyle Kearse]]. He assumed [[senior status]] on January 1, 1990. He retired on March 31, 1995.<ref name="fjc.gov"/>
In 1978, Chief Justice [[Warren Burger]] appointed Pierce to serve on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. He also was the American Bar Association's Alternate Observer at the United Nations.
==Post-retirement==
In 1995 he retired from the federal judiciary in order to travel abroad and he became Director of the USAID-funded Cambodian Court Training Project [[Cambodia]].
== Family ==
Born in [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania]], his mother, Mary Leora Bellinger Pierce, a classical pianist who accompanied [[Marian Anderson]], died of [[pneumonia]] when he was five years old. Pierce was raised by his step-mother, Violet Abrahams Pierce, a registered nurse, and, until he was eleven, by his father, Harold E. Pierce Sr.. Lawrence and his older brother, Dr. [[Harold E. Pierce]] Jr, M.D., were separated and only reunited on holidays at the home of their paternal grandparents, Lillian Willets Pierce and Warren Wood Pierce.
Pierce was married twice, first to Wilma Verenia Taylor, with whom he had three sons, Warren, Michael and Mark. Warren and Michael followed in their father's footsteps and studied law. Mark works overseas as a Regional Director with Plan International. Pierce has five granddaughters, one grandson and one great-granddaughter.
After his first wife's death, Pierce married Cynthia Straker, a former federal attorney and a professor at [[Howard University]] and St. John's University Law School. Cynthia died November 30, 2011. The couple resided in [[Sag Harbor, New York]]. Pierce died on February 5, 2020, at the age of 95 at his home in [[Boca Raton, Florida]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/13/nyregion/lawrence-pierce-dead.html |title=Lawrence Pierce, Federal Judge in New York, Dies at 95 |last=Roberts |first=Sam |date=February 13, 2020 |website=The New York Times |language=en-US |access-date=February 13, 2020}}</ref>
== Genealogy search ==
Pierce devoted several years to researching his family history and discovered two black forebears who were brothers, Richard and Anthony Pierce, both seamen. They met two Dutch sisters who were indentured servants, Hannah and Marie Van Aca. The brothers bought their freedom and married them. They settled in Cumberland County, New Jersey. Richard and Hannah's son, Adam, served in the New Jersey Militia, which fought in the Revolutionary War at the Battles of Crosswicks and Monmouth. Based on his historical lineage, Pierce joined the S.A.R. and the Sons of the Revolution at Fraunces Tavern, where he served as a vice-president. Family members thereafter became members of the S.A.R. and D.A.R. For consecutive years, ''[[Ebony Magazine]]'' listed Pierce as one of the most influential [[African Americans]] in the United States.
== See also == * [[List of African-American federal judges]] * [[List of African-American jurists]]
==References== {{Reflist}}
== Sources == * Steward, William, A.M. and Steward, Theophilus G., Rev., D.D., "GOULDTOWN A Very Remarkable Settlement of Ancient Date," J.B. Lippincott Co., Philadelphia, 1913; Reprinted by Fairfield Twnshp. Bd. of Ed., Bridgeton, NJ, 1994.
==External links== * {{FJC Bio|nid=1386341}} *{{C-SPAN|21275}} {{s-start}} {{s-legal}} {{s-bef|before=[[William Bernard Herlands]]}} {{s-ttl|title={{nowrap|Judge of the [[United States District Court for the Southern District of New York]]}}|years=1971–1981}} {{s-aft|after=[[Shirley Wohl Kram]]}} {{s-bef|before=[[Murray Gurfein]]}} {{s-ttl|title={{nowrap|Judge of the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit]]}}|years=1981–1990}} {{s-aft|after=[[Joseph M. McLaughlin]]}} {{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pierce, Lawrence Warren}} [[Category:1924 births]] [[Category:2020 deaths]] [[Category:African-American judges]] [[Category:Fordham University School of Law alumni]] [[Category:Lawyers from Philadelphia]] [[Category:Military personnel from Philadelphia]] [[Category:Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit]] [[Category:Judges of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York]] [[Category:Saint Joseph's University alumni]] [[Category:Members of the Sons of the American Revolution]] [[Category:United States court of appeals judges appointed by Ronald Reagan]] [[Category:United States district court judges appointed by Richard Nixon]] [[Category:People from Sag Harbor, New York]] [[Category:Judges of the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court]] [[Category:United States Army personnel of World War II]] [[Category:United States Army non-commissioned officers]] [[Category:21st-century African-American lawyers]]