Ira W. Jayne

Who is Ira W. Jayne?

Ira Waite Jayne was elected to the Wayne County, Michigan Circuit Court bench in 1915 and served as Chief Judge for 27 years of his 37 years working for the court. He graduated from the University of Michigan in 1905. He was the attorney for The Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children in Detroit. He developed the boarding home plan replacing orphanages.

Secretary of War Newton D. Baker appointed the judge to the recreational activities duty for United States Army camps in 1917 during World War I. There is a park which bears his name in Detroit.

He was a trustee of Lapeer's Camp Lemberg for retarded children, national Vice President of the NAACP and the American Bar Association Chairman.

As Vice President of the National Lawyers Guild, when members of the Detroit chapter refused to take a non-communist oath, Jayne resigned his post.

Judge Jayne also ran for the US Senate seat vacated in 1928 when Senator Woodbridge Nathan Ferris died.

Along with Walter P. Reuther he chose the sculpture, Carl Milles's statue "The Hand of God", which stands to pay tribute to Frank Murphy outside the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice in downtown Detroit.

A summary of his career appears in Recreation, Volume 12 By National Recreation Association.