Robert Morgan Pennoyer

Pennoyer was born on April 9, 1925 at his grandfather's home on Madison Avenue. He was the son of Frances Tracy ({{nee}} Morgan) Pennoyer (1897–1989){{cite news |first= Sidney C.|last= Schaer|title=Morgan Daughter Dies; Last surviving child was 92 |url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/newsday/access/103338254.html?dids=103338254:103338254&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Mar+14%2C+1989&author=By+Sidney+C.+Schaer&pub=Newsday+%28Combined+editions%29&desc=Morgan+Daughter+Dies+Last+surviving+child+was+92&pqatl=google |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120725072202/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/newsday/access/103338254.html?dids=103338254:103338254&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Mar+14%2C+1989&author=By+Sidney+C.+Schaer&pub=Newsday+%28Combined+editions%29&desc=Morgan+Daughter+Dies+Last+surviving+child+was+92&pqatl=google |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 25, 2012 |quote= Mrs. Pennoyer, the mother of six, a grandmother of 28 and a great-grandmother of 31, lived in the English-Norman styled home on an estate called "Round Bush" in Locust Valley. Born into a family whose name was synonymous with international banking, immense wealth and philanthropy, she nevertheless lived a private life... |work=Newsday |date=March 14, 1989 |access-date=October 30, 2009 }} and Paul Geddes Pennoyer (1890–1970), a prominent lawyer who headed up the White & Case office in Paris.{{cite news |title=Paul C. Pennoyer, 80, Lawyer. Active in Various Fields, Dies |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1971/07/01/79672718.pdf |access-date=November 10, 2018 |work=The New York Times |date=July 1, 1971 |language=en}} The family lived in an English-Norman styled home on an estate called "Round Bush" in Locust Valley, New York.{{cite news |last1=Leduff |first1=Charlie |title=Faded Glory on the Gold Coast; Glen Cove, Relic of the Gilded Age, Plans a Comeback |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/02/10/nyregion/faded-glory-on-the-gold-coast-glen-cove-relic-of-the-gilded-age-plans-a-comeback.html |access-date=10 November 2018 |work=The New York Times |date=February 10, 1999 |language=en}}

His maternal grandparents were John Pierpont Morgan, Jr. and Jane Norton Morgan. Among his extended family was uncle Junius Spencer Morgan III. Through another uncle, Henry Sturgis Morgan, co-founder of Morgan Stanley (who married Adams family descendant Catherine Adams), he was a first cousin of Henry Sturgis Morgan Jr. and John Adams Morgan.{{cite web |title=At Age 94, J.P. Morgan's Grandson Reflects on World War II and Patterson Belknap |url=https://www.law.com/newyorklawjournal/2019/06/20/at-age-94-j-p-morgans-grandson-reflects-on-world-war-ii-and-paterson-belknap/?slreturn=20241119115250 |website=www.law.com |publisher=New York Law Journal |access-date=19 November 2024 |language=en}} On his paternal side, his great, great uncle was Sylvester Pennoyer, the 8th governor of Oregon and of note for the seminal U.S. Supreme Court case, Pennoyer v. Neff.

Pennoyer was educated at a boarding school in Switzerland and St. Paul's School in New Hampshire before attending Harvard College.{{cite web |title=Robert Pennoyer ’43 |url=https://www.sps.edu/sps360/alumni-spotlight/robert-pennoyer-43 |website=www.sps.edu |publisher=St. Paul's School |access-date=19 November 2024 |language=en}} After returning from World War II, he attended Columbia Law School on the G.I. Bill, alongside Harold R. Tyler Jr., and Robert P. Patterson Jr., graduating in 1950.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, he finished his education at Harvard in eighteen months so he could join the U.S. Navy at the age of 19. He served aboard the USS Pensacola, seeing action in the Pacific theater, where the Pensacola was involved in the Battle of Iwo Jima and was extensively damaged by enemy fire.{{cite news |last1=Primus VI |title=Soldiers, When Young |url=https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2016/09/soldiers-when-young |access-date=10 November 2018 |work=Harvard Magazine |date=9 August 2016 |language=en}} "At the end of the war, he was part of a unit that helped occupy Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido and was the first American to set foot on the island."

After law school, he served as assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York under J. Edward Lumbard with Tyler and Patterson. From 1954 to 1958, he served in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, as assistant to the general counsel and as special assistant to the assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs.{{cite web |title=Biography {{!}} Robert M. Pennoyer |url=https://www.pbwt.com/robert-m-pennoyer/ |website=www.pbwt.com |publisher=Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler |access-date=10 November 2018}}{{cite news |last1=Burnham |first1=Sophy |title=The Manhattan Arrangement of Art and Money |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q9sCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA41 |access-date=10 November 2018 |magazine=New York |date=8 December 1969 |language=en}} While there, he defended the U.S. Army during the Army–McCarthy hearings.

Pennoyer joined Patterson Belknap as an associate in 1958. He became a partner 1962, becoming chairman, and practiced law there until his retirement in 1995.{{cite web |title=Robert M. Pennoyer, 1925-2023 |url=https://www.pbwt.com/news/robert-m-pennoyer-1925-2023 |website=www.pbwt.com |publisher=Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP |access-date=19 November 2024 |date=August 15, 2023}}

At age 90, he wrote his memoir entitled As It Was.{{cite book |last1=Pennoyer |first1=Robert M. |title=As It Was: A Memoir |date=13 October 2015 |publisher=Easton Studio Press, LLC |isbn=978-1-63226-046-8 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/As_It_Was_A_Memoir/glm1CgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1 |access-date=19 November 2024 |language=en}}

Pennoyer was a founder of Exodus House, a "halfway house for addiction rehabilitation in East Harlem" for which he was also a trustee. In addition, he supported Human Rights First (formerly known as the Lawyers Committee for International Human Rights), where he established the Pennoyer Fellowship Program. He was also a supporter of women's rights and a champion of the Alliance for Justice, a progressive judicial advocacy group.

In 1948,{{cite news |title=VICTORIA PARSONS MARRIED IN ORANGE; Bride of Robert M. Pennoyer, Grandson of Late J. P. Morgan: Bishop Poweil Officiates. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1948/06/13/96594442.pdf |access-date=10 November 2018 |work=The New York Times |date=June 13, 1948 |language=en}} Pennoyer was married to Victoria Parsons (1928–2013),{{cite news |title=PENNOYER, VICTORIA PARSONS |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage-9D01E1DD133AF935A35753C1A9659D8B63.html |access-date=10 November 2018 |work=The New York Times |date=October 3, 2013 |language=en}} a daughter of James Russell Parsons of West Orange, NJ, a partner in Chubb & Son,{{cite news |title=J. RUSSELL PARSONS |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/06/10/archives/j-russell-parsons.html |access-date=19 November 2024 |work=The New York Times |date=June 10, 1970}} and granddaughter of Hendon Chubb, founding partner of Chubb & Son. Together, they were the parents of:

• Russell Parsons Pennoyer,{{cite web |title=Russell P. Pennoyer |url=https://www.gilderlehrman.org/about/russell-p-pennoyer |website=www.gilderlehrman.org |publisher=Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History |access-date=19 November 2024}} who married Helen Elliot Bearn, a daughter of Dr. Alexander Gordon Bearn, in 1978.{{cite news |title=Helen Elliot Bearn Fiancee |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1978/06/18/archives/helen-elliot-bearn-fiancee.html |access-date=19 November 2024 |work=The New York Times |date=June 18, 1978}}
• Christina Lee Pennoyer, who married R. Scott Greathead, a son of Edwin Burton Greathead, in 1982.{{cite news |title=Christina Pennoyer Married |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/01/31/style/christina-pennoyer-married.html?searchResultPosition=2 |access-date=19 November 2024 |work=The New York Times |date=January 31, 1982}} They divorced in 1997.{{cite web |title=Welcome to the Worldwide Greathead family my One-Name Study - Person Page |url=http://www.greathead.org/greathead2-o/p715.htm |website=www.greathead.org |access-date=19 November 2024}}
• Tracy Pennoyer, a doctor who married in Peter Sims Lowe, a son of William H. Lowe Jr., in 1979.{{cite news |title=Miss Pennoyer Becomes Bride Of Peter Lowe |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/06/10/archives/miss-pennoyer-becomes-bride-of-peter-lowe.html?searchResultPosition=8 |access-date=19 November 2024 |work=The New York Times |date=June 10, 1979}} They divorced and she married John Winthrop Auchincloss II, a son of author Louis Auchincloss, in 1988.{{cite news |title=Dr. Pennoyer, a Psychologist, Is Wed To John W. Auchincloss 2d, a Lawyer |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/04/10/style/dr-pennoyer-a-psychologist-is-wed-to-john-w-auchincloss-2d-a-lawyer.html |access-date=10 November 2018 |work=The New York Times |date=April 10, 1988 |language=en}}{{cite news |title=Emily Auchincloss, Zachary Fuchs |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/02/fashion/weddings/emily-auchincloss-zachary-fuchs.html?searchResultPosition=1 |access-date=19 November 2024 |work=The New York Times |date=July 2, 2017}}
• Peter Pennoyer (b. 1957), an architect who married Katherine Lee "Katie" Ridder, a granddaughter of Bernard J. Ridder, in 1988.{{cite news |title=Miss Ridder, Editor, to Wed Peter M. Pennoyer, Architect |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/06/12/style/miss-ridder-editor-to-wed-peter-m-pennoyer-architect.html |access-date=10 November 2018 |work=The New York Times |date=June 12, 1988 |language=en}}{{cite news |title=Katie Ridder, Editor, Is Wed |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/09/25/style/katie-ridder-editor-is-wed.html |access-date=10 November 2018 |work=The New York Times |date=September 25, 1988 |language=en}}

Pennoyer died at his summer home in South Dartmouth, Massachusetts, on August 13, 2023.{{cite web |title=ROBERT PENNOYER Obituary (1925 - 2023) |url=https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/nytimes/name/robert-pennoyer-obituary?id=52959571 |website=Legacy.com |publisher=The New York Times |access-date=19 November 2024}}

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Category:1925 births

Category:2023 deaths

Category:Morgan family

Category:St. Paul's School (New Hampshire) alumni

Category:Columbia Law School alumni

Category:Harvard University alumni