Richard Ammi Cutter entered Nobles in 1913. At age 11, he was one of the School's first and youngest long-distance commuters. Each day he took the train from Salem to North Station and walked to 100 Beacon Street. Having been an editor of the Nobleman and manager of the hockey team, he graduated in 1918, just after his 16th birthday, one of the youngest graduates in the School's history.

Class of 1922 at Harvard, Mr. Cutter went onto Harvard Law School where he was editor

of the Law Review. After 18 months with the Boston firm of Goodwin, Proctor, Field and Hoar, which he joined upon graduation in 1925, Mr. Cutter was appointed assistant attorney general of Massachusetts. He spent the next three years trying tax cases and arguing appeals before the Supreme Judicial Court.

In 1930 he reentered the private practice with the firm of Storey, Thorndike, Palmer and Dodge. A year later, and still under the age of 30, he became a partner. Except for a brief absence as special advisor in matters of taxation to Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., then governor of Puerto Rico, Mr. Cutter remained with that firm until World War II.

A member of Harvard ROTC on college, one month after Pearl Harbor, he joined the legal branch of the contract division of the office of Under Secretary of War. He became Deputy Chief and soon Chief of the Legal Branch of the Procurement Division of the Army.

In October 1944 he was transferred to the office of the assistant secretary of war, John J. McCloy, as one of three officers assisting the secretary with matter pending before the Joint and Combined Chiefs of Staff, planning for military governments in Germany and Japan and for war crimes prosecutions. He attended the Potsdam conference and in may 1945 the San Francisco conference. For his was service he was awarded the Legion of Merit with Oak Leaf Cluster.

On January 1, 1946, Mr. Cutter rejoined his law firm in Boston, but again government service interrupted his law practice: in 1951 for the negotiation of the airbase agreement with Portugal; in 1954 to investigate problems connected with the military purchasing in Europe; and in 1956 when he was given major responsibility for presenting the Foreign Aid Program to Congress for the Departments of State and Defense.

In 1956 he was elevated to the position of Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, the only Nobles graduate to attain this position. There he quickly established a reputation for tireless energy, and lawyers and judges alike have admired the succinct thoroughness of his judicial opinions.

In spite on his commitment to public service and the law, Judge Cutter found time for extracurricular and charitable service. He helped establish the Clark Art Museum in Williamstown and has been a member of its Board of Trustees for many years. He has served the American Law Institute in many capacities and is presently vice president of the organization. His greatest involvement, however, has been with Harvard. He has served as director of the Harvard Alumni Association, President of the Harvard Law School Association, and finally, a member of the Board of Overseers where he was Chairman of the executive Committee.

Throughout a long career he has had the happy facility of combining discerning judgement with a Yankee sense of humor. The zeal with which he tackles legal problems is no less evident of the golf course where he can be found in weather fair or foul even if it requires donning rubber boots.

Judge Cutter is married to the former Ruth Crew. One of their three children, Henry S.G., is a member of Nobles Class of 1948.