Sept. 18--A descendant of two prominent Chicago families, William McCormick Blair Jr. served as the right-hand man of Illinois Gov. Adlai Stevenson while he was governor and during Stevenson's two bids for the presidency in the 1950s.
After Stevenson's two presidential defeats, Blair remained active in national Democratic Party politics, supporting John F. Kennedy and later serving as the U.S.' top envoy to Denmark and then the Philippines during the administrations of President Kennedy and President Lyndon Johnson.
"Bill was in my opinion the most devoted patriot who cared deeply about the future of our country," said Winnetka resident and former FCC Chairman Newton Minow, a longtime friend and former law partner of Blair's. "Bill decided at a young age to devote his life to public service, and he was totally committed to serving his country."
Blair, 98, died of complications from hypertension Aug. 29 at his home New York, said his wife of almost 54 years, Deeda.
Born in Chicago, Blair lived as a child at his family's home on Astor Street in the Gold Coast during the school year and at his family's Crabtree Farm estate in Lake Bluff during summers. He was the son of William McCormick Blair, who founded the privately held brokerage firm William Blair Co., and was the great-grandson of wholesale hardware pioneer William Blair. Through Blair's grandmother's side of the family, he was a descendant of the McCormick family, which owned the Chicago Tribune. His great-grandfather, William Sanderson McCormick, helped form what became International Harvester Co. and was the brother of Cyrus McCormick, the inventor of the mechanical reaper.
Blair graduated from the Groton School, a boarding school in Massachusetts, and went on to earn an undergraduate degree from Stanford University. During World War II, he served in intelligence in the Army Air Forces in Asia and was awarded a Bronze Star, according to his family.
Blair earned a law degree from the University of Virginia in 1947. After law school, he worked as a lawyer and signed on as an administrative assistant to Stevenson after he was elected governor in 1948.
"Gov. Stevenson often said to me that Bill was indispensable to his career," Minow said.
Stevenson was ambivalent about pursuing the presidency in 1952. As it happened, the Democratic National Convention was held in Chicago that year, and after his welcome address, Stevenson watched some of the convention on TV at Blair's Astor Street mansion. Stevenson ultimately was nominated by delegates at the convention, and he accepted the nomination.
Blair traveled extensively with Stevenson during that unsuccessful presidential bid. After the race, Stevenson left office as governor and campaigned for other Democrats around the nation in 1954. Stevenson ran again in 1956, and Blair once again traveled around the country with Stevenson, who lost a second time to Dwight Eisenhower.
Blair met his future wife, Catherine "Deeda" Gerlach, through his political ties. They met at a dinner party given by her next-door neighbors in Chicago, Sargent and Eunice Shriver. The couple dated for several years before marrying in Denmark in 1961.
In 1960, Blair's friendship with the Shrivers gave him an entree into the campaign of John F. Kennedy. After he was elected president, Kennedy tapped Blair to serve as the ambassador to Denmark, a post he held from 1961 until 1964. Blair then served as Johnson's ambassador to the Philippines from 1964 until 1967. He also was the president of the American Council of Ambassadors.
In 1967, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy asked Blair to resign his ambassadorship to become the first general director of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., which opened in 1971. Blair's national fundraising skills honed from two presidential campaigns and deep political ties made him a natural for the job. Blair and his wife settled into a large, Georgian-style mansion on a large wooded lot in Washington, where they frequently entertained potential donors.
"It was a relationship job, requiring extensive fundraising," his wife said.
The couple also often joined up with health activist Mary Lasker to host dinners at their home to encourage support for medical research, which was a particular passion of Deeda Blair.
Blair left the Kennedy Center in 1972 and returned to private legal practice at the Washington law firm Surrey Morse, which today is part of Jones Day. He and his wife moved to New York City in 2004.
"He was so distinguished," his wife said. "Everyone says there aren't people like him anymore -- the manners, the thoughtfulness, the generosity. There was nothing elite about him whatsoever."
Deeda Blair also recalled her husband's "dry, self-deprecating sense of humor."
Blair's son, William III, long suffered from bipolar disorder and committed suicide in 2004. There were no other immediate survivors.
Services will be private.
Bob Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.
