Supreme Court justice from 1970 to 1994 who authored the most controversial decision of that age, Roe v. Wade, legalizing abortion.
He attended Harvard College on a scholarship, graduating with honors with a degree in mathematics, and after graduation, on the advice of his friend, he sought judgeship.
He was a compulsive record keeper, and he left a treasure trove of documents, everything from his notes to his receipts, open to the public after his death.
He grew up in the working-class neighborhood of Dayton's Bluff, Minnesota, where one of his childhood friends was Warren Burger, who joined him on the Supreme Court.
He played a Supreme Court justice in Steven Spielberg's film Amistad, making him the first Supreme Court justice to ever appear on film.