Funeral services were held here yesterday for Yitzhak Olshan, former president of the Supreme Court, who died Saturday at the age of 88. Premier Menachem Begin and virtually the entire Israeli judicial establishment attended the services. Olshan was considered one of the founders of the Israeli judiciary.
He was born in Lithuania and came to Palestine as a child. He graduated from the famed Herzilia High School in Tel Aviv. He served in the Jewish Legion from 1918 to 1921 and then in the Haganah. Later he completed his studies and received academic degrees in law and Mideastern history from London University.
Olshan was one of the original five-member Supreme Court bench, appointed immediately after the State was established, and became president of the court in 1954. He served in that post until his retirement in 1965.
But his public service did not end at that time. Olshan was named president of the Press Council, the prestigious body that determines media ethics. He held that post until 1978. His only son, Yoram, was killed in 1973 while serving in the army.
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