Gerald S. McGowan

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Gerald Stephen "Gerry" McGowan (born September 3, 1946) was appointed United States Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Portugal on November 10, 1997, and was sworn in by Vice President Al Gore. He presented his credentials in Lisbon, Portugal on March 19, 1998 and left his post on July 3, 2001.

McGowan played an important role in negotiations between the US administration and the Portuguese leadership during the East Timor struggle for independence from Indonesia in late 1999 and early 2000^{[citation needed]}.

McGowan is a career telecommunications industry lawyer and is a founding partner of the Washington D.C. law firm Lukas, McGowan, Nace & Gutierrez. While working towards his B.S. from Georgetown University and a J.D. from Georgetown Law, Jerry served as a clerk to Michigan Supreme Court Justice Thomas Kavanagh and as an assistant to the late U.S. Senator Phillip Hart. He also served in the Vietnam War as a United States Army 1st Lieutenant in 1970-1971. A classmate at Georgetown was then class President and eventual United States President, Bill Clinton.

Gerry was born and raised in Birmingham, Michigan to Harry and Mary McGowan where he attended Brother Rice High School.

He is the father of seven children, Jason, Zachary, Lukas, Connor, Molly, Sean and Dylan by his first wife, the former Sharon Shapiro, who died of breast cancer on April 8, 1995. He married Susan Brophy on January 10, 1998. They currently reside in Arlington, Virginia.