Henry L. Kimelman

Henry L. Kimelman (born January 21 1921) was the United States Ambassador to Haiti from 1980-1981.

He was President of the Virgin Isle Hotel, the largest resort in Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, from 1950-1960. He was also Chairman of the Board and CEO of Island Block Corp. from 1955-1980, and Chairman and CEO of the West Indies Corp. from 1969-1980.

In 1961, he was appointed the Virgin Islands delegate to the Caribbean Organization. In 1962, he was appointed by President John F. Kennedy to the United States Delegation to the Independence Ceremonies of both Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica. He served as the first Commissioner of Commerce, Industry and Tourism for the United States Virgin Islands from 1961-1964. He was a Director and Chairman of the Executive Committee of Diners Club and served on the Board of the American Hotel Association. In 1967, during the Johnson Administration, he was appointed Chief of Staff to United States Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall. In 1968, the President appointed him to the Board of the newly created National Parks Foundation.

His political work landed him on the master list of Nixon political opponents. He was Chairman of the Board, and Finance Chairman of the George McGovern presidential committee in 1972. He was Deputy Chairman and Finance Chairman of Senator Frank Church’s presidential campaign in 1976, and a senior political adviser to Gary Hart’s presidential campaign in 1988. In 1981, he became a partner at the prestigious investment bank LF Rothschild, headquartered in New York City. He semi-retired in 1990.

He was the first US Ambassador to be awarded Haiti’s highest civilian decoration, the Grand Cross of Honor and Merit. The Governor of the Virgin Islands proclaimed February 4, 1998, “Henry L. Kimelman Day.” Ambassador Kimelman also has been honored by the government of Israel. In 2004, Dakota Wesleyan University awarded him an honorary doctorate in Humane Letters. He is currently Co-Chair of the Council of American Ambassadors, and Chairman of its Endowment Fund.

References

* [http://www.americanambassadors.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Members.view&memberid=43 Henry L. Kimelman] via Council of American Ambassadors
* [http://www.feri.org/news/news_detail.cfm?QID=2837 Henry L. Kimelman] via Franklin & Eleanor Roosevelt Institute