- Charles H. Price II
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Charles H. Price II (born 1 April 1931) is a prominent American businessman and former Ambassador of the United States.
Early life
Price was born to a prominent family in Kansas City, Missouri, who owned a local candy manufacturing firm, the Price Candy Company. He attended Wentworth Military Academy in Lexington, Missouri, and then the Pembroke-Country Day School in Kansas City, where he graduated in 1948. He obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Missouri in 1953. After college, between 1953 and 1955, he served in the United States Air Force.
After discharge from the Air Force, Price returned to Kansas City to begin a prominent career in the local banking industry. He served as Chairman and President of American Bancorporation, Inc., Chairman and CEO of the American Bank and Trust Company, and Chairman and President of Linwood Securities Company. He also ran his family's candy company, serving as Chairman and CEO from 1969 - 1981.
Public life
In the spring of 1981, President Ronald Reagan appointed Price to be United States Ambassador to Belgium. He was quickly and unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate. In 1983, President Reagan recalled Price from his post in Belgium and appointed him United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom. The Senate again confirmed him unanimously, and he held the post until the end of the Reagan Administration in 1989. As Ambassador to the United Kingdom, he was instrumental in handling the aftermath of the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988 and was the first U.S. government official on the scene in Lockerbie, Scotland, on the night of the bombing. He gave the first indication that it was the worst terrorist attack against the U.S., when he told reporters that 70% of those on board were Americans.[1]
Upon returning from his ambassadorial post in April 1989, Price was appointed Chairman of the Board of Ameribanc, Inc., and then became President and CEO in 1990. Ameribanc merged with Mercantile Bancorporation in May 1992, and Price became Chairman of the Board of Mercantile Bank of Kansas City and Mercantile Bank of Kansas. He held this position until retiring in 1996.
Price has also served as a Director of British Airways (1989-1996), Hanson plc (1989-1995), US Industries, Inc. (1995-2004), The New York Times Company (1989-2002), Texaco (1989-2001), and Sprint (1989-1995). In Kansas City, he has served on numerous philanthropic boards. He also has received numerous awards and honorary degrees for his public service.
Today, Price is retired and resides in Indian Wells, California. He is married to Carol Swanson Price.
Diplomatic posts Preceded by
Anne Cox ChambersU.S. Ambassador to Belgium
1981–1983Succeeded by
Geoffrey SwaebePreceded by
John J. Louis, Jr.U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom
1983–1989Succeeded by
Henry E. Catto, Jr.References
- ^ Fisher, Dan. "At Least 258 Dead in Scotland Crash of N.Y.-Bound 747," The Los Angeles Times, December 22, 1988
United States Ambassadors to the United Kingdom 
Ministers Plenipotentiary to
the Court of St. James's
1785–1811John Adams 1785–1788 · Thomas Pinckney 1792–1796 · Rufus King 1796–1803 · James Monroe 1803–1807 · William Pinkney 1808–1811 · Jonathan Russell (chargé d'affaires) 1811–1812
Envoys Extraordinary and
Ministers Plenipotentiary to
the Court of St. James's
1815–1893John Quincy Adams 1815–1817 · Richard Rush 1818–1825 · Rufus King 1825–1826 · Albert Gallatin 1826–1827 · James Barbour 1828–1829 · Louis McLane 1829–1831 · Martin Van Buren 1831–1832 · Aaron Vail (chargé d'affaires) 1832–1836 · Andrew Stevenson 1836–1841 · Edward Everett 1841–1845 · Louis McLane 1845–1846 · George Bancroft 1846–1849 · Abbott Lawrence 1849–1852 · Joseph R. Ingersoll 1852–1853 · James Buchanan 1853–1856 · George M. Dallas 1856–1861 · Charles Adams, Sr. 1861–1868 · Reverdy Johnson 1868–1869 · John Lothrop Motley 1869–1870 · Robert C. Schenck 1871–1876 · Edwards Pierrepont 1876–1877 · John Welsh 1877–1879 · James Russell Lowell 1880–1885 · Edward J. Phelps 1885–1889 · Robert Todd Lincoln 1889–1893
Ambassadors Extraordinary
and Plenipotentiary to
the Court of St. James's
1893–presentThomas F. Bayard, Sr. 1893–1897 · John Hay 1897–1898 · Joseph Choate 1899–1905 · Whitelaw Reid 1905–1912 · Walter Page 1913-1918 · John W. Davis 1918–1921 · George Harvey 1921–1923 · Frank B. Kellogg 1924–1925 · Alanson B. Houghton 1925–1929 · Charles G. Dawes 1929–1931 · Andrew W. Mellon 1932–1933 · Robert Bingham 1933–1937 · Joseph P. Kennedy 1938–1940 · John G. Winant 1941–1946 · W. Averell Harriman 1946 · Lewis W. Douglas 1947–1950 · Walter S. Gifford 1950–1953 · Winthrop W. Aldrich 1953–1957 · John Hay Whitney 1957–1961 · David K. E. Bruce 1961–1969 · Walter H. Annenberg 1969–1974 · Elliot L. Richardson 1975–1976 · Anne Armstrong 1976–1977 · Kingman Brewster, Jr. 1977–1981 · John J. Louis, Jr. 1981–1983 · Charles H. Price II 1983–1989 · Henry E. Catto, Jr. 1989–1991 · Raymond G. H. Seitz 1991–1994 · William J. Crowe 1994–1997 · Philip Lader 1997–2001 · William Stamps Farish III 2001–2004 · Robert H. Tuttle 2005–2009 · Louis Susman 2009–
Categories:- 1931 births
- Living people
- People from Kansas City, Missouri
- United States ambassadors to Belgium
- United States ambassadors to the United Kingdom
- American philanthropists
- University of Missouri alumni
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