W. Michael Blumenthal

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Blumenthal, on the cover of Time magazine

W. Michael Blumenthal

Blumenthal's signature, as used on American currency

Werner Michael Blumenthal, Ph.D. (born January 3, 1926) served as United States Secretary of the Treasury under President Jimmy Carter from 1977-1979.

Born in Oranienburg near Berlin, Germany, Blumenthal fled the country with his parents in 1939 shortly before the outbreak of World War II. They went to Shanghai, and then to the United States in 1947. He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 1951 with a B.S. degree in business administration from the Haas School of Business, and later received a Ph.D from Princeton University. Blumenthal alternately worked in the public sector - as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Economic Affairs from 1961-1963 and the President's Deputy Special Representative for Trade Negotiations with the rank of Ambassador from 1963 to 1967 - and in the private sector - working for a variety of firms.

Blumenthal served as Secretary of the Treasury from January 23, 1977 to August 4, 1979.

From his marriage in 1951 to the former Margaret Polley, Blumenthal had three daughters: Jane, Anne, and Jill. He was baptized as a Presbyterian in the 1950s.

Currently he resides in Berlin and Princeton, New Jersey, with his wife, Barbara and his son Michael, and is director of the Jewish Museum Berlin.