J. Howard Marshall

J. Howard Marshall
J. Howard Marshall II in 1954
Born	James Howard Marshall II (1905-01-24)January 24, 1905 Germantown, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died	August 4, 1995(1995-08-04) (aged 90) Harris County, Texas, U.S.
Alma mater	Haverford College Yale Law School
Occupation	Businessman, attorney, academic, government official
Spouse(s)	Eleanor M. Pierce (1931–1961; divorced) Bettye Bohannon (1961–1991; her death) Anna Nicole Smith (1994–1995; his death)
Children	J. Howard Marshall III E. Pierce Marshall

James Howard Marshall II (January 24, 1905 – August 4, 1995) was an American businessman, academic, attorney, and government official. His life spanned nine decades and almost the entire history of the oil industry, from the early years when uncontrolled production depleted valuable fields and natural gas was burned at the well head, to the decades of energy shortages and the Arab Oil Embargo. Marshall was married to Anna Nicole Smith during the last 14 months of his life. His estate became the subject of protracted litigation which was reviewed by the Supreme Court in Marshall v. Marshall and Stern v. Marshall.

Born in Germantown, Pennsylvania, J. Howard Marshall II attended George School, a private high school in Newtown, Pennsylvania, and then studied liberal arts at Haverford College, both Quaker institutions, graduating in 1926. While at George School and Haverford he edited the school newspapers, captained the debate teams and was an All American soccer player and played competitive tennis under the instruction of professional Bill Tilden. He graduated magna cum laude from Yale Law School in 1931. At Yale, he was case editor of the Yale Law Journal and studied with the law and economics pioneer Walton Hale Hamilton.

Upon graduation he served from 1931 to 1933 as an Assistant Dean at Yale Law School and his teaching schedule during these years has been definitively documented. At the same time, he was producing scholarship as a member of the influential legal realist school of thought, working with future Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas on an article entitled A Factual Study of Bankruptcy Administration and Some Suggestions. However, his most influential works, done with Norman Meyers, were two articles entitled Legal Planning of Petroleum Production. These pioneering studies offered an alternative to the then-current practices of controlled production among the oil industry, which were leading to dramatic boom/bust cycles, and gained the interest of the government, especially since the legal minds behind the New Deal were staunch legal realists.