San Francisco
County
Biographies
MAX
THELEN
Max Thelen, lawyer, was born in Rising City, Nebraska, on
October 2, 1880; the son of Edmund and Fanny J. M. (Bayrhoffer).
Graduated from University of
California in 1904 with the degree of B.L. He also received the degree of A.M.
from Harvard in 1906.
He was with the law firm of Olney
& Olney, San Francisco, California, 1906-07; assistant attorney and
attorney for the Western Pacific Railway Company, 1907-11; attorney for the
California State Railroad Commission from March 1911 to January 1915, member of
the Commission from March 1912 to June 1918, and its president from January 1,
1915 to June 1918; lecturer on International Law at the University of
California, 1907-13; president of the National Association of Railway
Commissioners, 1916-17; and chairman of the Association’s Special War
Committee, 1917-18; chairman of the Committee on Petroleum of California State
Council of Defense, 1917-18; surveyor of contracts and chief of Purchase
Branch, General Staff of the War Department, June 1918 to January 1919;
chairman of the Superior Board of Contract Review, Army representative on the
Munitions Patents Board, Chairman of Advisory Board on Sales and Contract
Termination, and assistant to the director of Purchase, Storage and Traffic
Division of the General Staff, War Department, September 1918 to January 1919;
director of Public Service, United States Railroad Administration, February 1,
1919 to March 1, 1920, and director of Liquidation Claims, February 1 to
October 1, 1920. Awarded the Distinguished Service Medal.
Mr. Thelen
is a member of the American Society of International Law, American Academy of
Political and Social Science, American Bar Association, The State Bar of
California, San Francisco Bar Association, American Law Institute; Phi Beta
Kappa, Phi Delta Phi. He belongs to the Commonwealth Club (Board of Governors)
and the Bohemian Club, both in San Francisco. Author of
“Public Utilities Act,” enacted by the California Legislature in December,
1911, and other statutes. Author of “Leading Railroad and Public Service
Commissions, 1912.”
On May 1, 1913, he was married to Ora Emily Muir, of Willits, Mendocino County, California;
children: Ora, Henry, Max Jr., and Dorothy Elise. The
family residence is in Berkeley, California.
He is senior partner in the law firm
of Thelen, Marrin, Johnson
& Bridges, 111 Sutter Street, San Francisco,
California.
Transcribed By: Cecelia M. Setty.
Source: “Eminent Californians 1953”,
by Lee E. Johnson & C. W. Taylor. Pages 493-493, C. W. Taylor
Publ., Palo Alto, California, 1953.
© 2014 Cecelia M. Setty.
San Francisco County Biographies