John Gorham Palfrey Jr. (March 12, 1919 – October 28, 1979) was an American academic, administrator, and government official. He was a professor at law at Columbia University and served as dean of Columbia College from 1958 to 1962. He also served on the United States Atomic Energy Commission from 1962 to 1966.
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Early life
Palfrey was born in Beacon Hill, Boston on March 12, 1919. He was a son of Methyl Gertrude (née Oakes) Palfrey and John Gorham Palfrey Sr., a prominent Boston attorney. John and his sisters were avid tennis players, with all five of his sisters winning a national junior title, including Sarah Palfrey Cooke, who won two singles, nine women's doubles, and four mixed doubles titles at the U.S. National Championships.
He was a great-grandson of John G. Palfrey, a Massachusetts Congressman and the first dean of Harvard Divinity School. His grandfather, Francis Winthrop Palfrey, was an American historian and Civil War officer. His family is descended from William Palfrey, who served in the American Revolutionary War as aide-de-camp to George Washington.
Palfrey graduated from Milton Academy and Harvard College in 1940, where he was classmates with John F. Kennedy. He also studied at Harvard Law School before his studies were interrupted by World War II, during which he served in the Army Signal Corps and with the military intelligence at The Pentagon, retiring as a first lieutenant.