William Verity Jr. - Misplaced Pages

(Redirected from C. William Verity, Jr.) American businessman (1917–2007)

William Verity


27th United States Secretary of Commerce
In office October 19, 1987 – January 30, 1989
President	Ronald Reagan George H. W. Bush
Preceded by	Malcolm Baldrige Jr.
Succeeded by	Robert Mosbacher

Personal details
Born	Calvin William Verity Jr. (1917-01-26)January 26, 1917 Middletown, Ohio, U.S.
Died	January 3, 2007(2007-01-03) (aged 89) Beaufort, South Carolina, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Peggy Wymond
Children	3
Education	Yale University (BA)
Military service
Branch/service	United States Navy
Battles/wars	World War II

Calvin William Verity Jr. (January 26, 1917 – January 3, 2007) was an American government official and steel industrialist who served as the 27th United States secretary of commerce between 1987 and 1989, under President Ronald Reagan.

Early life and education

He was born in Middletown, Ohio, on January 26, 1917, to Calvin William Verity and Elizabeth (O'Brien) Verity. He roomed with John F. Kennedy at Choate, a Connecticut boarding school, starting a friendship with the future president. He graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from Yale University.

Career

After graduating from college, Verity tramped around the world and worked as maître d' at an upscale Manhattan restaurant. He also served in the United States Navy from 1942 to 1945. Verity worked for most of his career at Armco Steel, a corporation founded by his grandfather, George M. Verity. He started there in 1940 and retired from Armco in 1982.

Secretary of Commerce

Between 1980 and 1981, Verity chaired the United States Chamber of Commerce. In 1981, he chaired Reagan's bipartisan task force on Private Sector Initiatives (PSI). In 1983, he was appointed a member of PSI's Advisory Council and later served on PSI's Board of Advisors. Between 1979 and 1984, he co-chaired the U.S.-U.S.S.R. Trade Economic Council, a private sector council of American and Soviet businessmen.

During Verity's time at the U.S. Department of Commerce, he established the Commerce Hall of Fame in 1988 to honor good department employees. In 1988, he also created the Office of Space Commerce to support the National Space Council. That office was an early version of the Office of Space Commercialization, an office created to promote the effective commercial use of outer space. According to Jonathan Chait of The New Republic, Verity kept a passage from Ayn Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged on his desk, including the line "How well you do your work . . . the only measure of human value."

Personal life

Verity's wife, the former Margaret Wymond Verity, known as Peggy, and they had two sons and a daughter together (Peggy Verity Power, Jonathan George Verity, and William Wymond Verity).

He died on January 3, 2007, a complications of pneumonia, in Beaufort, South Carolina, at the age of 89, twenty-three days before his 90th birthday. His wife, Peggy Verity, died on Wednesday, January 20, 1999, at age 81. He is interred in Woodside Cemetery, Middletown, Ohio.

References

Steve LeVine, The Oil and the Glory, Random House, 2007.
"C. William Verity Jr., Former Commerce Secretary, 89, Dies". The New York Times. Associated Press. 2007-01-06. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-07-29.
"Calvin VERITY Jr.'s Obituary on The Cincinnati Enquirer". The Cincinnati Enquirer. Retrieved 2017-08-29.
Gardner Botsford, A Life of Privilege, Mostly (St. Martin's Press, New York, 2003), p.131
"Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 1 - REMEMBERING CALVIN WILLIAM VERITY, JR". www.govinfo.gov. Retrieved 2021-07-29.
"C. William Verity Jr. -- Former Commerce Secretary, 89". New York Times 6 Jan. 2007, late ed.: A16.
Chait Jonathan (2009-09-14) Wealthcare, The New Republic
"C. William Verity Jr., Former Commerce Secretary, 89, Dies". New York Times. 2007-01-06.

External links

Appearances on C-SPAN

Political offices
Preceded byMalcolm Baldrige	U.S. Secretary of Commerce Served under: Ronald Reagan October 19, 1987 – January 30, 1989	Succeeded byRobert Mosbacher

v t e United States Secretaries of Commerce
Secretaries of Commerce and Labor	Cortelyou Metcalf Straus Nagel
Secretaries of Commerce	Redfield Alexander Hoover Whiting Lamont Chapin Roper Hopkins Jones Wallace Harriman Sawyer Weeks Strauss Mueller Hodges Connor Trowbridge Smith Stans Peterson Dent Morton Richardson Kreps Klutznick Baldrige Verity Mosbacher Franklin Brown Kantor Daley Mineta Evans Gutierrez Locke Bryson Pritzker Ross Raimondo

Cabinet of President Ronald Reagan (1981–1989)

Cabinet
Vice President	George H. W. Bush (1981–1989)
Secretary of State	Alexander Haig (1981–1982) George Shultz (1982–1989)
Secretary of the Treasury	Donald Regan (1981–1985) James Baker (1985–1988) Nicholas F. Brady (1988–1989)
Secretary of Defense	Caspar Weinberger (1981–1987) Frank Carlucci (1987–1989)
Attorney General	William French Smith (1981–1985) Edwin Meese (1985–1988) Dick Thornburgh (1988–1989)
Secretary of the Interior	James G. Watt (1981–1983) William P. Clark Jr. (1983–1985) Donald P. Hodel (1985–1989)
Secretary of Agriculture	John R. Block (1981–1986) Richard Lyng (1986–1989)
Secretary of Commerce	Malcolm Baldrige Jr. (1981–1987) William Verity Jr. (1987–1989)
Secretary of Labor	Raymond J. Donovan (1981–1985) Bill Brock (1985–1987) Ann Dore McLaughlin (1987–1989)
Secretary of Health and Human Services	Richard Schweiker (1981–1983) Margaret Heckler (1983–1985) Otis Bowen (1985–1989)
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development	Samuel Pierce (1981–1989)
Secretary of Transportation	Drew Lewis (1981–1983) Elizabeth Dole (1983–1987) James H. Burnley IV (1987–1989)
Secretary of Energy	James B. Edwards (1981–1983) Donald P. Hodel (1983–1985) John S. Herrington (1985–1989)
Secretary of Education	Terrel Bell (1981–1984) William Bennett (1985–1988) Lauro Cavazos (1988–1989)

Cabinet-level
Director of the Office of Management and Budget	David Stockman (1981–1985) James C. Miller III (1985–1988) Joe Wright (1988–1989)
Director of Central Intelligence	William J. Casey (1981–1987) William H. Webster (1987–1989)
Trade Representative	Bill Brock (1981–1985) Clayton Yeutter (1985–1989)
Ambassador to the United Nations	Jeane Kirkpatrick (1981–1985) Vernon A. Walters (1985–1989)
Counselor to the President	Edwin Meese (1981–1985) None (1985–1989)

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