San Francisco County
Biographies
MAX THELEN.
Max Thelen, senior member of the law firm of Thelen & Marrin, of San Francisco, is a native of Nebraska, and was born in 1880 at Rising City. When eight years of age he moved with his parents to California and attended the public schools of National City. In 1904 he graduated from the University of California with the degree of B. L., and he then entered Harvard Law School. The A. M. degree was conferred on him by Harvard in 1906, and he was admitted to the California bar the same year.
For about two years, Mr. Thelen was associated in practice with the firm of Olney & Olney in San Francisco, and he then became Assistant Attorney of the Western Pacific Railway Company, becoming Attorney in 1910. The following year he became Attorney for the California State Railroad Commission, which office he held for four years. He was a member of the Commission from 1912 to 1918, being its President the latter three years of this period, and was also President of the National Association of Railway Commissioners.
From 1917 to 1920 Mr. Thelen was occupied in emergency public service as a result of the World war. He served as Chairman of the Committee on Petroleum of the California Council of Defense, was Surveyor of Contracts for the War department, Chief of the Purchase Branch, Army representative on the Munitions Patent Board and Chairman of the Superior Board of Contract Review. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal. After the termination of the war, he served as Director of Public Service for the United States Railroad Administration and as Director of Liquidation Claims.
Since 1920, Mr. Thelen has engaged in general civil practice, being joined in partnership by Paul S. Marrin in 1924, under the firm name of Thelen & Marrin. Mr. Thelen is a Director of the First National Bank in Berkeley and The Berkeley Bank. He is the author of "Leading Railroad and Public Service Commissions" published in 1912. He also wrote the California Public Utilities act, passed by the legislature in 1911, and other pieces of legislation.
Mr. Thelen holds membership in the American Society of International Law, American Bar Association, State Bar of California and the Bar Association of San Francisco, as well as the American Society of Political and Social Science, Commonwealth Club of California of which he was President in 1925 and 1926, Bohemian Club, and Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Delta Phi fraternities. In 1913 he married Ora Emily Muir, and they have three children, Ora, Henry Muir and Max, Jr.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
Source: "American Blue Book California Lawyers"
by H. James Boswell, Pages
74-75, Produced by H.
James Boswell, 1928.
© 2008 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
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