Richard Newton Gardner (July 9, 1927 – February 16, 2019) was an American diplomat who served as the

United States Ambassador to Spain The incumbent ambassador is Julissa Reynoso Pantaleón, she was sworn in by Vice President Kamala Harris on January 7, 2022 and presented her credentials on February 2, 2022. This is a list of United States ambassadors to Spain from 1779 to the ...

and the

United States Ambassador to Italy Since 1840, the United States has had diplomacy, diplomatic representation in the Italian Republic and its predecessor nation, the Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946), Kingdom of Italy, with a break in relations from 1941 to 1944 while Italy and the U ...

. He was also a professor emeritus of law at

Columbia Law School Columbia Law School (Columbia Law or CLS) is the law school of Columbia University, a private Ivy League university in New York City. Columbia Law is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world and has always ranked i ...

Life and career

Gardner was born in

New York City, New York New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, the son of Ethel ( Alias) and Samuel Gardner (former family name was Goldberg). He served in the United States Armed Forces during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Gardner graduated from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

with a B.A. degree in Economics, a J.D. from

Yale Law School Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by ''U ...

, and was a

Rhodes Scholar The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. It is considered among the world' ...

, receiving a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Economics from

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

. He wrote several books and articles. Gardner became a member of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...

in 1974 and a member of the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

in 1998. Gardner died in New York City on February 16, 2019, at the age of 91.

References

External links

* * 1927 births 2019 deaths Military personnel from New York City Writers from New York City Ambassadors of the United States to Spain Ambassadors of the United States to Italy American Rhodes Scholars Yale Law School alumni Columbia Law School faculty Harvard College alumni Alumni of the University of Oxford Members of the American Philosophical Society 20th-century American diplomats {{US-diplomat-stub