William H. Gray III

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

William Herbert Gray III (August 20, 1941 – July 1, 2013) was an American politician and member of the

United Negro College Fund
, a position he held until 2004.

He was the fourth-highest-ranking member of the House at the time of his resignation and a minister in

Gray Loeffler LLC, headquartered in Washington, D.C.[1]

Early life

Gray was born in

Simon Gratz High School. He attended Franklin & Marshall College, where he received a bachelor's degree in 1963. He went on to obtain a master's in divinity from Drew Theological Seminary in 1966 and a master's in theology from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1970. Gray received a L.H.D. from Bates College
in 1994.

Career

In 1972, Gray succeeded his father as the senior minister at Bright Hope Baptist Church in

Majority Whip (1989–1991). As chairman of the Committee on Budget, Gray introduced H.R. 1460, an anti-Apartheid bill that prohibited loans and new investment in South Africa and enforced sanctions on imports and exports with South Africa. This bill was an instrumental precursor to the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act
of 1986 (H.R. 4868).

Portrait of Gray in the Collection of the U.S. House of Representatives

Gray resigned unexpectedly from Congress in 1991 to serve as president of the United Negro College Fund from 1991 to 2004. The move was considered surprising and prompted speculation that it may have been connected with an investigation into alleged campaign finance violations by the Gray team.

A Pennsylvania Senate seat had been left vacant when Senator John Heinz was killed in a plane crash. Major-party candidates were chosen by the party committees because it was too late for a primary. The speculation was that Attorney General Dick Thornburgh struck a deal with Gray, who not only had been the subject of an investigation into campaign finance irregularities but also a grand jury investigation into his church's financial affairs. It was reported that Gray agreed not run in the special election and in return Thornburgh would drop the investigations. Thornburgh resigned as Attorney General and ran for the Senate seat himself, though he lost in an upset to Democrat Harris Wofford.[2][3][4][5][6]

Gray served as a special adviser to the President and Secretary of State for Haitian affairs in 1994. He was named to the PoliticsPA list of "Pennsylvania's Top Political Activists."[7]

Outside politics he was also a businessman who has been a director at

Visteon Corporation and Pfizer
. He retired from Bright Hope Baptist Church in 2007 and was succeeded by Kevin R. Johnson.

Personal life

Gray was married to the former Andrea Dash; they had three sons. Gray was a member of

the Wimbledon tennis tournament.[8]

Awards and honors

In 1997 he received the Four Freedoms Award for the Freedom of Worship.[9]

In 2014 President Barack Obama signed U.S. House resolution 4838 directing Amtrak to rename Philadelphia's 30th Street Station to William H. Gray III 30th Street Station.[10]

See also

References

  1. ^ .William Gray's Profile on Forbes.com
  2. ^ "Did Dick Cut Bill A Deal? Book: Thornburgh Had Goods On Gray - philly-archives". articles.philly.com. Retrieved July 23, 2015.
  3. ^ "Why Would Gray Resign? Several Ideas Are Floated - philly-archives". articles.philly.com. Retrieved July 23, 2015.
  4. ^ "Thornburgh Aide Linked to Gray Leak : Congress: A Justice Department probe says the chief spokesman and an ex-FBI official confirmed a damaging report on House Democratic leader. - latimes". articles.latimes.com. April 20, 1990. Retrieved July 23, 2015.
  5. ^ "Editorials & Opinion | The Conniving Ways Of Dick Thornburgh | Seattle Times Newspaper". community.seattletimes.nwsource.com. Retrieved July 23, 2015.
  6. ISBN 9780160801945
    . Retrieved July 23, 2015.
  7. ^ "Pennsylvania's Top Political Activists". PoliticsPA. The Publius Group. 2002. Archived from the original on November 13, 2002.
  8. ^ "Former Congressman William Gray dies". UPI. Retrieved July 2, 2013.
  9. ^ "Four Freedoms Awards | Roosevelt Institute". Archived from the original on March 25, 2015. Retrieved May 13, 2015.
  10. ^ Fattah, Chaka (August 8, 2014). "Text - H.R.4838 - 113th Congress (2013-2014): To redesignate the railroad station located at 2955 Market Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, commonly known as "30th Street Station", as the "William H. Gray III 30th Street Station"". www.congress.gov. Retrieved April 17, 2021.

External links

U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by Member of the
U.S. House of Representatives
from Pennsylvania's 2nd congressional district

1979–1991 		Succeeded by
Lucien E. Blackwell
Preceded by Chair of the House Budget Committee
1985–1989 		Succeeded by
Preceded by House Majority Whip
1989–1991 		Succeeded by
Party political offices
Preceded by
David L. Boren, Barbara Boxer, Robert Byrd, Dante Fascell, Tom Harkin, Dee Huddleston, Carl Levin, Tip O'Neill, Claiborne Pell
 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Response to the State of the Union address
1986
Served alongside: Tom Daschle, George Mitchell, Chuck Robb, Harriett Woods 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
Chair of the House Democratic Caucus

1989 		Succeeded by
Preceded by House Democratic Whip
1989–1991 		Succeeded by
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=William_H._Gray_III&oldid=1196066655"