Wendell Holmes, Oliver: - Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. was an American lawyer who was born March 8, 1841 and died March 6, 1935. From 1902 to 1932, he was an associate judge on the U.S. Supreme Court. Holmes is one of the most famous and important American judges in history. He is known for his long service, sharp opinions (especially on civil liberties and American constitutional democracy), and respect for the decisions of elected legislatures. Holmes quit the court at the age of 90, which is still the oldest justice on the Supreme Court. He was a Brevet Colonel in the American Civil War and was wounded three times. He also worked as an associate justice and chief justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and as the Weld Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, where he went to school. He was well-liked, especially by leftists in the United States, because of his views, personality, and writing style. Holmes was born in Boston, Massachusetts. His parents were Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., a famous author and doctor, and Amelia Lee Jackson Holmes. All of his ancestors came to North America from England in the early colonial time as part of the Puritan movement to New England. Both of his parents were English.