Timothy Galvin

Galvin was a member of the Class of 1916 at the University of Notre Dame.[9][7][10] As a student, he was an editor of the Notre Dame Dome[11] and was on the debate team.[12]

In the 1930s, Galvin was president of the Notre Dame Alumni Association.[13][7][5] Beginning in 1946, he served as a University lay trustee.[14][7]

Galvin began his law career in the office of the Daniel E. Celly in Valparaiso in September 1916 before moving his practice to Hammond in 1923.[5][7] There he was a partner in the firm of Tinkam and Galvin.[5] He was a senior partner at the law firm of Galvin, Galvin and Leeney[7] (established 1934) with his brother, Francis, and Edmond J. Leeney.[8][5] Prior to this, he was a member of the firm of Tinkham & Galvin.[15] As an attorney, Galvin was admitted to the Supreme Court of the United States bar on November 18, 1943.[16]

Galvin was a president of the Hammond Chamber of Commerce, a director of the Mercantile National Bank of Hammond, and of the Citizens Federal Savings and Loan Association of Hammond.[5][17]

He joined the Knights when he turned 18,[17] and became grand knight of Valparaiso Council before becoming a district deputy in the area.[5] Galvin was state deputy of Indiana from 1925 to 1928.[5][7][18][19][20] Galvin was first elected to the Supreme Board in 1933 and served as Supreme Master of the Fourth Degree of the Knights from 1941 to 1945.[17][5][21][7][13] In 1945 he was elected Deputy Supreme Knight[22][5] and resigned from that post and from the Board of Directors in 1949.[23][7]

Galvin was elected Deputy Supreme Knight during a power struggle for control of the Order between his close personal friend and future Supreme Knight, Luke E. Hart,[24] and the then-Supreme Knight, Francis P. Matthews.[25] Over several years, Supreme Advocate Hart had orchestrated the election of directors who had a different vision for the future of the Order than Matthews.[25]

Matthews opposed having a convention in 1945 to preserve hotel space for returning WWII soldiers, but a convention was called anyway in the expectation that something could be worked out.[22] The convention assembled in Montreal but, upon determining that a convention there would not be feasible, they adjourned to Plattsburgh, New York.[22] Matthews felt such an action was illegal, declared himself not a candidate, and Hart's slate of officers were all elected, including Galvin and Supreme Knight John E. Swift.[22]

In recognition of his service to the church, he was made a Knight of the Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great, one of the five Orders of Knighthood of the Holy See, by Pope Pius XII in 1942.[5][7][26] The Timothy P. Galvin K.S.G. Outstanding Catholic Layman Award is awarded each year by the Indiana State Council in his honor.[18]

As Deputy Supreme Knight during World War II, he argued that the United States was "fighting to uphold the doctrine at all men are created equal in the sight of God."[27]