Robert B. Meyner

Early life[edit]

Meyner was born on July 3, 1908, in Easton, Pennsylvania, to Gustave Herman Meyner, Sr. (1878–1950) and Maria Sophia Bäumle (1881–1968). His father was a German American silk worker from Manchester, New Hampshire. His mother was German, but born in Birsfelden near Basel, in Switzerland, to Robert Bäumle from Harpolingen, Baden and to Franziska Oliva Thüring from Istein, Baden. Robert had an older brother, Gustave Herman Meyner Jr. (1907–1996). He also had a younger sister, Olive F. Meyner Wagner (1913–1982).^[1]


In 1916, the Meyner family moved across the state border to Phillipsburg, New Jersey. They briefly settled in Paterson, New Jersey but had returned to Phillipsburg by 1922. Meyner graduated from Phillipsburg High School in 1926, and entered Lafayette College, where he majored in government and law.^[2] He was a brother of the Alpha Chi Rho fraternity. In 1928, Meyner formed a club supporting Al Smith as a presidential candidate in the 1928 United States presidential election.^[1] Smith was the nominee of the Democratic Party but lost the election to Herbert Hoover of the Republican Party.


In his senior year, Meyner was editor in chief of "The Lafayette", a student newspaper. After his graduation, he moved on to Columbia Law School, where he was awarded an LL.B. degree in 1933.^[1]


While still in school, Meyner had been employed as an apprentice coremaker by the Warren Foundry and Pipe Corporation and Ingersoll Rand. During his college years, Meyner was employed as a weaver by the Gunning Silk Company. Following his graduation from Columbia, Meyner found employment as a law clerk in Union City. He was employed by J. Emil Walscheid and Milton Rosenkranz from February, 1933 to April, 1936.^[1]