He was a United States Naval Reserve Lieutenant Commander during World War II, from 1942 to 1946.
[1] On July 22, 1963, Tenney was nominated by President John F. Kennedy to a seat on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York vacated by Judge Alexander Bicks.
Tenney served in that capacity until his death on November 11, 1994, in Islip, New York.
[1] Tenney is the author of the seminal patent damages case, Georgia-Pacific Corp. v. U.S. Plywood Corp., 318 F.Supp.
[citation needed] Tenney's daughter Patricia Lusk Tenney married John Randolph Hearst Jr., the grandson of newspaper man and publisher William Randolph Hearst.