Remembering Larry Shubow

Larry Shubow died February 22, 2011, at the age of 88. We will miss him. Larry was a long-time member of the Guild, even in the dark days of the 1950s, and for many years he was the only judge who dared to be a dues-paying member of our Chapter. He was our NLG Lifetime Achievement recipient at our dinner in 2004.

Larry grew up in Dorchester, graduated from Boston Latin in 1940, and from Harvard College in 1943. He enlisted in the Army after college and was stationed in Hawaii and Japan during the war. He graduated from Harvard Law School in 1951, and after distinguishing himself for almost three decades in private practice, he was appointed a district court judge in 1978 by Governor Dukakis, despite opposition branding him a communist sympathizer. When Larry reached mandatory retirement age in 1992 (he was then the presiding justice of the Brookline District Court), Governor Dukakis described him as “a model of the committed public citizen.”

Indeed he was. He was an activist in the 1950s who was described by the Boston Globe as “work[ing] tirelessly to block local investigations of suspected communists” by McCarthy forces, and he too feared he would be targeted; he continued after that in private practice to specialize in civil rights and criminal defense; and he was an advocate for judicial reform while a judge – as well as being a compassionate, decent and effective member of the judiciary.

Larry was described by his daughter in a recent Globe obituary: “He was endlessly organizing to challenge power. It was often said about him that there wasn’t a disenfranchised group he didn’t represent.” Larry lived a good life and left his mark. We should learn from that life.

- NLG Mass. Chapter Board of Directors -

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When I heard that Larry passed away, it brought back memories, not only of his passion as a lawyer, but as a friendly and kind human being. I remember when I was very young, Larry and his family would occasionally vacation with my family somewhere down the Cape. He and my dad, Gabriel Kantrovitz, were friendly and very active in the fight against Senator McCarthy and the HUAC. When you got them a little relaxed, fishing, etc., they could take a deep breath. Years later, when I worked with his daughter, Jennifer, it brought back old times and evidence that the movement, via generations, continues on.

- Marty Kantrovitz -