Charles Hickox

“Charlie Hickox,” writes a close friend, “was a figure out of the Victorian era—tall and straight, with a fine intellectual face. He always wore a high, stiff collar, a bow tie and a double-breasted suit and made an arresting picture. In politics, he was a conservative of the conservatives. A little to the right of Louis XIV, it has been said.”

Hickox was educated at both Yale and Harvard; he got his bachelor’s degree at Yale in 1893; the Harvard Law School gave him his LL.B. three years later. He began practice with Convers and Kirlin (which later became Kirlin, Campbell and Keating) in 1899 and was a partner in the firm in 1908. He was a highly successful admiralty lawyer.

Many psychologists believe that the habit of intense con centration builds a good memory. Hickox had both to an uncommon degree. A young lawyer who worked for him used to be astonished by the documentation of his mind. Hickox would lean back in his chair and dictate a long brief without once looking up a citation. Such a performance is, of course, a superb time-saver, but other lawyers should be pretty sure they have his truly photographic memory before they follow his example.

He carried this quality outside the office. He was fond of reading; especially fond of poetry. He could recite his favorite poems in toto without a slip. He had a sensitive literary taste and could display it with sharp wit.

During the First World War, in which he was a major with the American Expeditionary Force, he gave valuable service as judge advocate. He was decorated by the French government with the Order of University Palms. But he was then already a veteran of the Spanish American War, having served in Cuba with New York’s Squadron A.

Charlie Hickox was a charming companion, and we were lucky to have him with us so long. He was a member for forty-six years.

Roger Burlingame
1960 Century Association Yearbook