David W. Peck

David W. Peck (December 3, 1902 – August 23, 1990) was an American jurist. From 1947 to 1957, he was Presiding Justice of the Appellate Division, First Department in New York, and in that time took a leading role in the reform of judiciary of that state. In 1950, in Germany, Peck led the Advisory Board on Clemency on recommendations for clemency for convicted war and Nazi criminals. Life and work David Warner Peck was born in Crawfordsville in Indiana (Crawfordsville is the administrative head of Montgomery County and home to Wabash College, a private college). Peck skipped his senior year of high school and began at age 16 to study in Wabash College, where after three years, instead of the usual four, he graduated with honors. He then studied law at Harvard Law School. To finance his studies he worked as a tutor. After graduating and receiving his license to practice law in New York, in 1934 Peck joined the law firm of Sullivan & Cromwell, with which he remained connected throughout his life. He was a partner in the firm for 31 years, handling civil litigation. Peck was a Republican in the early 1930s and was associated with Thomas E. Dewey and Herbert Brownell of the so-called "Young Turks" of the Republican Party in New York County. In 1943, Peck was appointed a Justice of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, the state's trial court. In 1945, he was named an associate justice of the Appellate Division, First Department, and in 1947, he was promoted to Presiding Justice of that court, which handles appeals from trial courts in Manhattan and the Bronx. When appointed as Presiding Justice, Peck was 44 years old, becoming the youngest judge to serve as presiding justice of the First Department. In 1957, Peck left the court and returned to Sullivan & Cromwell, where he remained until retiring in 1980. In 1977 sculptor Joseph Kiselewski created a bronze medallion featuring the likeness of Justice Peck.