William McCormick Blair, Jr. (born October 24, 1916) served as U.S. Ambassador to Denmark from 1961 to 1964 and U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines from 1964 until 1967. A lawyer, he also was a close associate of Adlai Stevenson.
He is a son of William M. Blair, who co-founded the investment banking firm William Blair & Company[1]. He graduated from the Groton School and took his undergraduate degree from Stanford University.
On September 9, 1961, in the chapel at Frederiksborg Castle in Hillerød, Denmark, Ambassador Blair married Catherine "Deeda" Gerlach (born 1931), a daughter of Norman H. Gerlach and the former wife of Chicago oleomargarine heir Charles Clarke Jelke. She was named director and vice-president of the Lasker Foundation in 1965, and is a noted advocate for public health issues. The Blairs had one child, William McCormick Blair 3rd (1962-2004).
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Robert McCormick (1780–1846) |
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Mary Ann Hall (1780–1853) |
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| Nancy Fowler McCormick (1835–1923) |
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Cyrus McCormick (1809–1884) |
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Mary Ann Grigsby (1828–1878) |
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William Sanderson McCormick (1815–1865) |
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Leander J. McCormick (1819–1900) |
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| Cyrus McCormick Jr. (1859–1936) |
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Harold Fowler McCormick (1872–1941) |
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Joseph Medill (1823–1899) |
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L. Hamilton McCormick (1859–1934) |
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Robert Sanderson McCormick (1849–1919) |
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Kate Medill (1853–1932) |
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William Grigsby McCormick (1851–1941) |
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Ruby McCormick (1860–1882) |
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| Joseph Medill McCormick (1877–1925) |
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Ruth Hanna McCormick (1880–1944) |
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Robert R. McCormick (1880–1955) |
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Chauncey Brooks McCormick (1884–1954) |
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William McCormick Blair (1884–1982) |
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Brooks McCormick (1917–2006) |
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William McCormick Blair, Jr. (born 1916) |
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| Preceded by Val Peterson |
U.S. Ambassador to Denmark 1961–1964 |
Succeeded by Katharine Elkus White |
| Preceded by William E. Stevenson |
U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines 1964–1967 |
Succeeded by G. Mennen Williams |