William Langer - Personal Life

Personal Life

Langer was born on September 30, 1886 near Casselton, North Dakota to Frank and Mary (Weber) Langer. His father, Frank Langer, was a member of the first legislature of the state of North Dakota. William was valedictorian of Casselton High School upon graduation in 1904. He obtained a bachelor of laws from the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, but was too young upon graduation to practice law. He therefore continued his undergraduate education at Columbia, where he graduated at the top of his class in 1910. Although he was offered a position at a prominent New York law firm, he elected to return to North Dakota, where he practiced law in the town of Mandan before starting his career in politics. He married Lydia Cady, the daughter of a New York architect, in 1918, and had four daughters, Emma, Lydia, Mary, and Cornelia (who became a wife of abstract impressionist painter Kenneth Noland).