Robert Edward "Bob" Treuhaft (August 8, 1912 – November 11, 2001) was a civil rights lawyer in Oakland, and the second husband of Jessica Mitford.
Treuhaft studied law at Harvard. After marrying Jessica "Decca" Mitford in 1943, they moved to San Francisco (or Oakland?), where he started a law firm, specializing in unions and union relations.
He was enraged by the exorbitant fees undertakers charged (particularly to union members), which frequently consumed a widow's death benefits. After organizing the Bay Area Funeral Society to reduce the cost of funerals for union members, Treuhaft encouraged Decca to write an exposé of the funeral industry. 1
Like Decca, Treuhaft was a communist, but they grew disillusioned with the party and left it by 1958.
Treuhaft and Mitford worked on the Jerry Newson case in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
In 1971, a young Hillary Rodham (Clinton) worked for his law firm as an intern.
Links and References
- Robert Treuhaft on Wikipedia
- Left-Wing Political Activist and Progressive Leader in the Berkeley Co-op oral history at calisphere
- Robert Treuhaft, Lawyer Who Inspired Funeral Exposé, Dies at 89 New York Times via mitford.org
