Frank Richman

Frank Nelson Richman (July 1, 1881 – April 29, 1956) was an American lawyer, politician, and judge who served as a justice of the Indiana Supreme Court from January 6, 1941, to January 6, 1947. Richman also participated as a judge in the Nuremberg trials, as one of the judges of the Flick trial.

Biography Early life and education Richman was born in Columbus, Indiana, to Silas Tevis Richman (1852–1938) and Elma Jane Richman (née Baker, 1857–1953). On his father's side, Frank Richman was descended from German Quakers (later Methodists) who settled originally in Salem County, New Jersey. Silas Richman, originally from Decatur County, worked first as a schoolteacher and then as a medical doctor. On his mother's side, the Baker family were originally from Rowan County, North Carolina and were also Methodists. Silas Richman met Elma Baker while he was teaching school in Jamestown. They had two children; Frank and his older sister, Alice.

At a young age, Frank Richman and his family moved to Princeton, Kansas, where his father operated a general practice. In 1892, when Frank was eleven, the Richmans moved to the South Side of Chicago, Illinois, where his father opened another general practice until his retirement in 1927. Frank Richman graduated from Englewood High School at age 16.

Richman, a Republican, was elected to the Indiana Supreme Court and began serving on the bench in 1941, succeeding Justice George Tremain. Richman was known as a moderate at a time when the Indiana Republican Party was becoming more conservative. At the Indiana Republican Party convention of 1946, Richman was purged from the party due to his dissent in the case of State ex rel. v. Montgomery Circuit Court, which blocked Governor Ralph Gates's plans to reform state alcohol laws. He left the court in 1947, succeeded by Justice James Emmert.

Starting in 1944, Richman began to teach part-time at Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law (in Indianapolis). After leaving the Supreme Court, Richman became a professor of law at the school, teaching procedure, equity, and corporate law, until his retirement from that position in 1952.

In 1947, following the end of the Second World War, Richman traveled to Nuremberg, Germany to participate in the Nuremberg trials of members and supporters of the Nazi regime. Richman served as a judge of Division IV of the American Military Tribunal. Richman was one of the judges assigned to the Flick trial, with the defendants being prominent Nazi industrialists. The trial took nine months and resulted in three of the industrialists being found guilty and the other three being acquitted.

Personal life and death Richman was a member of the Columbia Club in Indianapolis. He was a charter member and later President of the Rotary Club in Columbus. He was also a founder of both the Columbus Boys' Club and the Bartholomew County Historical Society. From 1922 to 1939, he was chairman of the Columbus chapter of the American Red Cross. He chaired the Indiana Judicial Council and was a member of the Bartholomew County Bar Association, the American Bar Association, and the American Judicature Society. He was also a member of Phi Delta Phi and the Order of the Coif. Richman's hobbies included fishing, traveling, and playing golf and contract bridge.

In 1908, Richman married Edith Rogers. They married on Christmas Eve in Studley, Kansas, on the sheep ranch owned by Edith's parents. They had four children, one son and three daughters. All four children attended Indiana University.

Richman died of colon cancer at his home in Indianapolis in 1956.