Bertram B. Daiker, '33
Lawyer,
Argued First Amendment Case
Before the Supreme Court
1915-2005
Bertram B. Daiker of Port Washington, [was] an attorney who specialized in school law for nearly half a century and argued a landmark school prayer case before the U.S. Supreme Court, [He] died May 22 at his home. He was 90.
Daiker represented public school districts from Great Neck to Bridgehampton, and several private schools including the Diocese of Rockville Centre's Chaminade and Kellenberg Memorial high schools; and the Vincent Smith School, in Port Washington.
"He was the most honest, straightforward, generous man," said a friend, attorney Reed Whittemore of Port Washington, who worked with Daiker for 28 years. "As a lawyer he was intelligent and tenacious. He had such tremendous judgment, in analyzing a problem and putting his mind around it. He would just work on it and work on it."
The highlight of Daiker's career came when he represented the Herricks district before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1962 in Engel vs. Vitale, a First Amendment case the district lost. The decision written by Justice Hugo Black declared unconstitutional the recitation of a "nondenominational" prayer in the Herricks schools, sparking nationwide controversy.
In the 1970s Daiker was brought in as Chaminade's lawyer to help repair its finances after a previous school attorney, Thomas Higgins, was convicted and imprisoned for stealing school funds, Whittemore said. He developed a close 30-year friendship with the Rev. Philip Eichner, who then headed Chaminade and now is president of Kellenberg Memorial, Whittemore said.
Daiker also developed a specialty in municipal law, serving as a deputy town attorney for North Hempstead, and for several villages and special districts. He was an attorney for the Port Washington Chamber of Commerce.
Born in Ridgewood, Queens, he graduated from Jamaica High School. He received a bachelor's degree from Fordham University and a law degree from New York University. During World War II he served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps, retiring from the military in 1952 as a first lieutenant.
He was president of St. John's Lutheran Church in Williston Park, and later a member of the Community Reformed Church in Manhasset.
A member of the Boy Scouts of America, he was honored in 2001 by the Shelter Rock District of the Theodore Roosevelt Council on the occasion of his 75th year of volunteering with scouts. He had been a scout, scoutmaster, district chairman and vice president of the Nassau County council.
Information above quoted from: "Bertram Daiker: Argued case before Supreme Court"
by Joseph Mallia. Newsday. Long Island, N.Y.: Jun 1, 2005. pg. A.46
Picture from TARMAC: Newspaper of the Chaminade Flyers. February 2004
JAMAICA HIGH SCHOOL NOTEWORTHY ALUMNI : : : : : : : : 01/01/06