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S. Hazard Gillespie, who has been a prominent attorney in Davis Polk & Wardwell and was
formerly a U.S. attorney, passed away on Monday at the age of 100. According to his wife, Adelma Park, he died from pancreatic cancer.
He was born Samuel Hazard Gillespie Jr., in Morristown, N.J., on July 12, 1910. He received a bachelor’s degree from Yale in 1932 and his law degree in 1936.
He started out at Davis Polk as the primary assistant to name partner John W. Davis, and his career there lasted over 75 years. He was only away from the firm during his military service in World War II, and from 1959 to 1961, after he was appointed a U.S. attorney for two years for the Southern District of New York. Over the span of his career he has represented many prominent people, such as J.P. Morgan, Douglas Fairbanks, Maurice Chevalier, and many others.
In 1934, Gillespie worked for Davis Polk as its first summer associate, and in 1936, became a full-time associate. He eventually became a partner to the firm in 1948.
After becoming a full-time associate, he was part of a landmark case, Erie Railroad Co. v. Tompkins, which took place in the U.S. Supreme Court.
Although Gillespie retired as an attorney in 1980, he took on the role of senior counsel in that same year, and still visited the office daily at the age of 100.
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He is survived by his wife, two children, two stepchildren, two brothers, seven grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren.
