Frank S. Katzenbach


Frank Snowden Katzenbach, Jr. was an American jurist and Democratic party politician from New Jersey. He was an Associate Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court and was the Democratic nominee for Governor of New Jersey in 1907. He was the brother of New Jersey Attorney General Edward L. Katzenbach and uncle of Nicholas Katzenbach, the United States Attorney General.

Biography

Katzenbach was born in Trenton, New Jersey in 1868 to Frank Snowden Katzenbach, Sr. and Augusta Mushbach. He attended the Model School and graduated from Princeton University in 1889, studied law at Columbia Law School and in the office of James Buchanan. Katzenbach was elected alderman-at-large in Trenton in 1898, and then was elected Mayor of Trenton, New Jersey in 1901 and 1903.
At the Democratic State Convention of 1907, Katzenbach received the party's nomination for Governor of New Jersey. In the campaign against the Republican nominee John Franklin Fort, both candidates agreed on the creation of a public utilities commission, the enactment of civil service reform, and the adoption of direct primary elections. The election returns were extremely close, with many newspapers announcing the next day that Katzenbach had won. But late returns from Hudson County showed that Fort had eked out a victory.
Katzenbach continued practicing law until 1920, when he was appointed by Governor Edward Irving Edwards to the New Jersey Supreme Court. He served as a Justice until 1929.
He died in a Trenton, New Jersey hospital from sepsis caused by a leg infection. He was 60.