Frank Rowe Kenison (1907 - 1980)
Born at North Conway (NH); died at Concord (NH).
Lawyer, state official, jurist.
Portrait by Richard Whitney, 2005.
Supreme Cout purchase, 2005.

Frank Kenison graduated from Brewster Academy (1925) and from Dartmouth College (1929). He received his law degree from Boston University Law School (1932) and was admitted to the New Hampshire Bar later that year.

Kenison began his law practice at Conway (NH). He served as County Solicitor for Carroll County (1935/7), then as Assistant State Attorney General (1937/40). On December 15, 1940 Kenison was appointed State Attorney General.

Kenison served as Attorney General for two years (1940/2), then entered the U.S. Naval Reserves (1942/5). At the conclusion of his military service, Kenison resumed his former position as State Attorney General (served 1945/6).

February 22, 1946 Kenison was appointed Associate Justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court (served 1946/52). On April 29, 1952 Kenison became Chief Justice, and he held that position until his retirement, November 1, 1977. "No other Chief Justice served for a longer period of time in the history of New Hampshire" ["Frank Rowe Kenison", New Hampshire Bar Journal vol. 22 no. 3 (April 1981), p. 41].

During his quarter century as Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court, Kenison was twice considered for the United States Supreme Court. In addition to his duties on the New Hampshire bench, Kenison served (1955) as a member of the Commission to Prepare New Hampshire Revised Statutes, Annotated. In 1969 Kenison chaired the Commission to Prepare A New Hampshire Criminal Code. In 1971 Chief Justice Kenison served as administrative head of the new unified court system, and in 1973 he helped create a new Code of Judicial Conduct, as well as a new system of grievances and disciplinary procedures. He also taught courses at the law schools of the University of Chicago, Boston University, New York University and, in retirement, at the Franklin Pierce Law Center.

Upon his retirement from the bench in 1977, Kenison's fellow justices honored him by renaming the New Hampshire Supreme Court Building in his honor, "in recognition of his outstanding service to the judiciary."

References: "Frank Rowe Kenison", New Hampshire Bar Journal vol. 22 no. 3 (April 1981); Who Was Who, 1977 - 1981 (1981).