Louis H. Fead

Louis H. Fead (May 2, 1877 – February 4, 1943) was an American jurist. He was appointed to the office of chief justice Michigan Supreme Court in 1928 (completing the term of the late Richard C. Flannigan). After completing that term, he served as a justice, later becoming chief justice again. He had been a Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Michigan Masons.

Background Born in Lexington, Michigan, he was the eighth of nine children of John Lawrence and Augusta (Walther) Fead.

Fead received his bachelor's degree from Olivet College. He attended the Detroit College of Law while working at the Detroit law firm of Bacon & Palmer. He continued his education at University of Michigan Law School and received his law degree there in 1900. Fead then practiced law in Newberry, Michigan, and served as prosecuting attorney for Luce County, Michigan from 1901 to 1913. Fead was a Republican At the time of his first election, he was one of the youngest elected circuit court judges in the state.

Upon leaving the Michigan Supreme Court, Fead practiced law in Detroit, Michigan.

Death and legacy Fead died from a heart attack while being treated for throat cancer in a hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

He was the subject of a portrait executed in 1944 by Detroit artist Roy C. Gamble (1887–1972) which hangs at the Michigan Supreme Court building. The portrait joins nine others of Chief Justices of Michigan painted by Gamble.

Fead is interred at Deepdale Memorial Park near Lansing, Michigan.