John S. Fine

John Sydney Fine (April 10, 1893 – May 21, 1978) was an American lawyer, judge, and politician. A Republican, he served as the 35th governor of Pennsylvania from 1951 to 1955.

Early life Fine was born in Newport Township, Pennsylvania, one of nine children of Jacob W. and Margaret (née Croop) Fine. In 1895, the family moved to nearby Nanticoke, where Fine received his early education at local public schools. He milked cows and plowed fields on a coal company farm as a young boy, and he later reported on local community news for the Wilkes-Barre Record as a teenager.

After graduating from Nanticoke High School as valedictorian in 1911, Fine studied at the Dickinson School of Law in Carlisle, earning his law degree in 1914. He was admitted to practice law in Luzerne County (1914) and before the Superior Court of Pennsylvania (1915). He opened his own practice in Wilkes-Barre. He later married Bernice Johnson.

In 1962, Fine was indicted for evading payment of $45,000 in taxes. The Newport Excavation Co. allegedly paid for improvements on his farm along with salaries to two of his farmhands considered taxable income. Fine claimed ignorance to these issues and the Governor of Pennsylvania,

Fine died at Wilkes-Barre General Hospital on May 21, 1978, at the age of 85.