John Biggs Jr.

John Biggs Jr. (October 6, 1895 – April 15, 1979) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.

Early life and education

Biggs was born in Wilmington, Delaware, on October 6, 1895, to John and Rachel Valentine (Massey) Biggs. His father was the Attorney General of Delaware, since April 4, 1887, and the Chairman of the Constitutional Convention which framed the 1897 Constitution of Delaware, Biggs was also the grandson of Benjamin T. Biggs who served two terms in Congress. Biggs was a private in the United States Army Ordnance and Tank Corps during World War I from 1917 to 1918. He received a Bachelor of Letters from Princeton University in 1918, and a Bachelor of Laws from Harvard Law School in 1922. At Princeton Biggs was an editor of the Princeton Tiger and a Triangle Club collaborator.

While at Princeton, Biggs shared a room and became friends with writer F. Scott Fitzgerald, and later helped the author find a home in Delaware. It is reported that Biggs often retrieved Fitzgerald from jail, after Fitzgerald had bouts of drinking and fighting in Wilmington, Delaware. After Fitzgerald died in 1940, he was a mourner at his funeral and was the executor of the estate and the guardian of Fitzgerald's daughter Scottie, for whom he negotiated the contract rights of The Great Gatsby.

Career

Biggs was in private practice in Wilmington from 1922 to 1937, serving as a civilian aide to the Secretary of War in Wilmington from 1923 to 1937, and as a Referee in Bankruptcy for the United States District Court for the District of Delaware from 1924 to 1932.

Biggs had been a member of the bar since 1928, and was also a member of the Delaware State Bar Association, the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, the Society of Colonial Wars, the Sons of the American Revolution, and the American Legion.

Published works