Fredric T. Suss Sr., 91; top prosecutor at war crime trials on Guam
Fredric T. Suss Sr., a lawyer who was lead prosecutor in the 1946 Japanese war crimes trials on Guam, died Jan. 26, a day before he would have turned 92, of complications from Alzheimer’s disease at his home in Potomac, Md.
His work in the war crimes trials resulted in the convictions of Lt. Gen. Yoshio Tachibana and other Japanese officers accused of cannibalism and other atrocities committed against American prisoners of war on the island of Chichi Jima in the South Pacific.
During World War II, Suss initially served as a Navy communications officer before joining the Judge Advocate General’s Corps.
Suss was born Jan. 27, 1915, in New Britain, Conn. He attended the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass., before receiving his law degree in 1942 from Northeastern University in Boston.
In the 1950s, Suss was a staff trial attorney for the Federal Trade Commission before becoming general counsel for the Small Business Administration during President Kennedy’s administration.
After going into private practice, Suss served as an administrative law judge with the New York State Public Service Commission from 1975 until his retirement in 1980.
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