Greenberg, Leopold

GREENBERG, The Hon. Leopold. B.A., LL.B. Died 1964. Judge of the South African Appeal Court. Born Calvinia, Cape, 21st March, 1885, son of Samuel Bernard and Maria Greenberg. Educated at Grey College, Bloemfontein, and South African College, Cape Town. Had a brilliant scholastic career and won a number of special prizes. Became articled to a firm of attorneys in Johannesburg and took his LL.B. degree in 1907. Admitted as an Advocate of the Supreme Court in 1911, and rapidly became a leading figure at the Johannesburg Bar. Appointed King's Counsel in 1924 and elevated to the Bench the same year, becoming at 39 the youngest South African Judge since the Boer War. Appointed Judge President of the Transvaal in 1938, and elevated to the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in 1943. Served as Acting Chief Justice of the Union in 1953, and as Officer Administering the Government during the absence of the Governor-General. A leading figure in Jewish life, he was Hon. President of the Keren Hayesod, Israeli United Appeal and S.A. Friends of the Hebrew University. Appointed first South African member of the Board of Governors of the Hebrew University, which conferred an Honorary Doctorate on him in recognition of his distinguished services, and named its Leopold Greenberg Institute of Forensic Medicine in Jerusalem after him. He also received honorary Doctorates from the Universities of the Witwatersrand and Cape Town. Married the late Jenny Braun in 1913, and is survived by two sons.