FREEDHEIM, EUGENE HEITLER (16 Mar. 1900-19 Dec. 1984), attorney, presided over the CLEVELAND BAR ASSN. during its controversial defense of 11 accused communists (1955-56), a local case which signaled the beginning of the demise of McCarthyism nationally. Freedheim was born in Leadville, CO, to Carrie H. and Alfred A. Freedheim. His father ran a men's clothing store. Freedehim attended Denver public schools and graduated from the Univ. of Colorado (A.B. 1921) and Harvard Univ.'s School of Law (LL.B. 1924), where he edited the Harvard Law Review. Admitted to the bar in 1924, he first worked as a law clerk in the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts. In 1925 Freedheim came to Cleveland and joined the Mooney, Hahn, Loeser & Keogh law firm; by 1930, he was a partner. A Democrat (see CUYAHOGA COUNTY DEMOCRATIC PARTY), he served as precinct committeeman to SHAKER HTS.
On 2 Mar. 1927 Freedheim married Mina Koperlik; the couple had twin sons, Donald K. and David E., and one daughter, Joan Kraus Collins. A member of the Ohio State Bar Assn., Freedheim served as trustee of the Jewish Welfare Federation (see JEWISH COMMUNITY FEDERATION), the FAMILY SERVICE ASSN. of Cleveland (1945-49), the Youth Bureau, and as national president of the Family Service Assn. of America (1957-59). In 1956, Freedheim won the first Distinguished Service Award of the Community Chest Campaign (see UNITED WAY SERVICES) and in 1970 he was presented with the CHARLES EISENMAN Award of the JCF.
—J.M.