William McCormick "Bill" Blair Jr. (October 24, 1916 – August 29, 2015) was an American diplomat who served as
United States Ambassador to Denmark from 1961 to 1964 and as
United States Ambassador to the Philippines from 1964 until 1967. A lawyer, he also was a close associate of
Adlai Stevenson Adlai Stevenson may refer to:
* Adlai Stevenson I (1835–1914), U.S. Vice President (1893–1897) and Congressman (1879–1881)
* Adlai Stevenson II (1900–1965), Governor of Illinois (1949–1953), U.S. presidential candida ...
. He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws (L.L. D.) degree from
Whittier College in 1964.
Early life
Blair was a son of Helen Hadduck (Bowen) and
William M. Blair, who co-founded the
investment banking
Investment banking pertains to certain activities of a financial services company or a corporate division that consist in advisory-based financial transactions on behalf of individuals, corporations, and governments. Traditionally associated wit ...
firm
William Blair & Company. He graduated from the
Groton School
Groton School (founded as Groton School for Boys) is a private college-preparatory boarding school located in Groton, Massachusetts. Ranked as one of the top five boarding high schools in the United States in Niche (2021–2022), it is affiliated ...
in 1935,
[ ]Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
, and the University of Virginia Law School in 1947.[
]
Personal life
On September 9, 1961, in the chapel at Frederiksborg Castle in Hillerød, Denmark, Ambassador Blair married Catherine "Deeda" Gerlach (born 1931), the former wife of oleomargarine heir Charles Clarke Jelke and the only daughter of Norman Harbridge Gerlach (1904–1980), a partner in the Chicago law firm Gerlach & O'Brien, and his wife, the former Joanna Powell. Deeda Blair (who was later a subject of portraits by Andy Warhol)Lasker Foundation
The Lasker Awards have been awarded annually since 1945 to living persons who have made major contributions to medical science or who have performed public service on behalf of medicine. They are administered by the Lasker Foundation, which was ...
in 1965 and is a noted advocate for public health issues.
Blair and his wife relocated from Washington, D.C. to New York City. Blair died on August 29, 2015 at his home in Manhattan at the age of 98.
Family tree
References
External links
United States Department of State: Ambassadors to Denmark
* ttp://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/blair.html PoliticalGraveyard- William McCormick Blair
SmokersHistory bio page on the Blairs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blair, William Mccormick Jr.
1916 births
2015 deaths
McCormick family
Ambassadors of the United States to Denmark
American financial businesspeople
Ambassadors of the United States to the Philippines
Place of birth missing
Groton School alumni
Stanford University alumni
20th-century American diplomats