Served from 1917 through 1929
Chief Justice: 1922
Grant Fellows was born in Hudson Township, Michigan, on April 13,1865. He was educated in the district schools and Hudson High School. Fellows engaged in the practice of law in 1886, and in 1893 he became a member of the law firm of Fellows and Chandler. From 1901 until 1912, he was a member of the Board of Law Examiners.
He was elected to the office of Attorney General in 1912 and re-elected in 1914. At the Republican State Convention held at Saginaw on September 28, 1916, Fellows was nominated for Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court, was elected in 1916, and began service in 1917. He was re-elected in 1923. Before writing an opinion, he consulted every authority cited by counsel both in the briefs and in the arguments, and if it was a doubtful case he even took the initiative to go outside of these authorities and examine the question himself.
Fellows had a giant mind but a frail body. He had no family of his own and therefore devoted himself to his friends. He was a man of large capacity and was particularly fond of young people, and the greatest pleasure in his life was in rendering assistance to youths who desired an education. No one can estimate the number of men and women who were successful because Fellows gave them the opportunity. Wealth meant nothing to him except as a means of aiding humanity. (Michigan Supreme Court. Michigan Reports: Cases Decided by the Supreme Court of Michigan. Chicago: Callaghan and Co., 1879 – 1948, Vol. 248.)
Grant Fellows died on July 16, 1929, while in service to the Court.
Portrait presented on:
October 24, 1929
Portrait Artist:
McKay, Edwin Murray
Medium:
Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
79.38cm X 61.6cm (31 1/4″ X 24 1/4″)
Owned by:
State of Michigan
Current location:
Hall of Justice 4th Floor: Rotunda
Portrait photo by:
Douglas Elbinger