Eyewitness 1961: Alpern was full of firsts except in a key election
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State Supreme Court candidate Anne X. Alpern, circa 1961.
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Anne X. Alpern had what the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette called "a passion for justice."
An editorial on July 27, 1961, praised the Pittsburgh judge for her industry and articulateness following her nomination by Gov. David Lawrence to the state Supreme Court. "Miss Alpern's experience as a lawyer and judge make her eminently fitted for a seat on the State's highest bench," the newspaper said 50 years ago this month.
"Anne, a Hometown Girl, Makes Good" was the headline to an accompanying story by reporter Thomas P. Snyder about Alpern's life and legal career.
Born in Russia, she came as a child with her family to the United States. She graduated from the University of Pittsburgh Law School and began her legal career in 1928.
After several years in private practice, she was offered a temporary job as assistant city solicitor in 1934. Her new boss, Ward Bonsall, hired her to handle appeals cases. Her early legal successes in that job included saving the city $75,000 -- about $1.2 million in today's money -- in an eminent domain case, according to Snyder's story.
In 1942, Mayor Cornelius D. Scully named her city solicitor, the first woman to hold the post. In that position she became the first woman to appear before the state Public Utility Commission, achieving "state-wide recognition in fighting the requests of utility companies for rate increases."
She also made some enemies, Snyder wrote, referring to PUC members as the "Public Futility Commission." "The commissioners could cope with the dry tones of the legal brief but not with the shafts flung at them by Miss Alpern," his story said.
When David Lawrence became mayor in 1946, he retained Alpern as his solicitor.
First Published July 10, 2011 12:00 am
