Wade, Henry Menasco

▪ 2002

      American attorney and prosecutor (b. Nov. 11, 1914, Rockwall, Texas—d. March 1, 2001, Dallas, Texas), served as district attorney of Dallas county from 1951 to 1987; he attracted national attention for his prosecution of Jack Ruby and for his role in the landmark abortion case Roe v. Wade. After Ruby shot and killed Lee Harvey Oswald, John F. Kennedy's assassin, in 1963, Wade successfully led the prosecution of Ruby the following year. In 1970 Wade was sued by Jane Roe (a fictional name used to protect the identity of Norma McCorvey), who sought to keep him from enforcing a state law that prohibited abortion; Wade's office defended the law, which the U.S. Supreme Court ultimately, in 1973, declared unconstitutional. Wade served as counsel to a Dallas law firm after stepping down as district attorney in 1987.

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