{{Short description|American lawyer (1891–1982)}} '''Samuel J. Mellitz''' (1891–1982) was an American lawyer and judge who served as an associate justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court of Errors, the state's highest judicial body at the time.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-bridgeport-post-samuel-mellitz-appoi/117047611/|title=Samuel Mellitz Appointment to CT Supreme Court|work=The Bridgeport Post |date=May 11, 1958|pages=11|via=newspapers.com}}</ref> He was the first Jewish person to serve on the court.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://newspapers.library.in.gov/?a=d&d=JPOST19580613-01.1.13&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN-------|title=Jewish Post 13 June 1958 — Hoosier State Chronicles: Indiana's Digital Historic Newspaper Program|website=newspapers.library.in.gov}}</ref>
Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, Mellitz graduated from Yale Law School in 1911.<ref>{{Cite web| title=Guide to the Papers of Judge Samuel Mellitz | url=https://bportlibrary.org/hc/wp-content/uploads/BHC-MSS-0129-Papers-of-Judge-Samuel-Mellitz.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250324094248/https://bportlibrary.org/hc/wp-content/uploads/BHC-MSS-0129-Papers-of-Judge-Samuel-Mellitz.pdf | archive-date=2025-03-24}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://archive.org/details/registe59conn|title=Register and manual - State of Connecticut|date=June 17, 1959|publisher=Secretary of the State|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> He was in private practice for over two decades before Governor Wilbur Lucius Cross appointed him to the Connecticut Court of Common Pleas in 1936.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://www.jta.org/archive/samuel-mellitz-dead-at-91|title=Samuel Mellitz Dead at 91|work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency}}</ref> In 1942, he ascended to the Superior Court, where he would eventually serve as Chief Judge.<ref name="auto1">{{cite web | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/12/31/obituaries/samuel-mellitz-judge-and-university-trustee.html | title=Samuel Mellitz, Judge and University Trustee | work=The New York Times | date=31 December 1982 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.jud.ct.gov/HistoricalSociety/justices/default.htm|title=Justices of the Connecticut Judicial Branch|website=www.jud.ct.gov}}</ref> In 1958, he was appointed to the Supreme Court of Errors, a position he held until his retirement in 1963.<ref name="auto1"/><ref name="auto"/>
Mellitz was a longtime trustee of Yeshiva University, eventually becoming an honorary trustee.<ref name="auto"/> He also served as a member of the Connecticut Interracial Commission, was on the advisory board of St. Vincent's Hospital in Bridgeport, and was the vice president of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America.<ref name="auto1"/>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{s-start}} {{s-off}} {{succession box |title=Justice of the Connecticut Supreme Court |before=Kenneth Wynne |after=Abraham S. Bordon |years=1958–1961}} {{s-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mellitz, Samuel}} Category:1891 births Category:1982 deaths Category:People from Bridgeport, Connecticut Category:Jews from Connecticut Category:Yale Law School alumni Category:Justices of the Connecticut Supreme Court Category:20th-century Connecticut state court judges Category:Yeshiva University trustees
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