William Verity, Jr.

C. William Verity
U.S. Secretary of Commerce Verity 1987
27th United States Secretary of Commerce
In office October 19, 1987 – January 30, 1989
President	Ronald Reagan
Preceded by	Malcolm Baldrige, Jr.
Succeeded by	Robert Mosbacher
Personal details
Born	Calvin William Verity, Jr. January 26, 1917 Middletown, Ohio, U.S.
Died	January 3, 2007 (aged 89) Beaufort, South Carolina, U.S.
Resting place	Woodside Cemetery, Middletown, Ohio, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Margaret "Peggy" Wymond Verity (b. 1917 - d. 1999)
Children	Peggy V. Power Jonathan G. Verity William W. Verity
Alma mater	Choate Rosemary Hall, Connecticut, U.S.
Religion	Episcopalian

Calvin William Verity, Jr. (January 26, 1917 – January 3, 2007) was a U.S. administrator and steel industrialist. He served as the Secretary of Commerce between 1987 and 1989, under President Ronald Reagan.

Biography

Early life and education

The born was a native of Middletown, Ohio, on January 26, 1917, to son of Calvin William Verity, Sr. and Elizabeth (O'Brien) Verity. He roomed with John F. Kennedy at Choate, a Connecticut boarding school, starting a friendship with the future president.^[1]

Verity worked for most of his career at Armco Steel, a corporation founded by his grandfather, George M. Verity.^[2] He started there in 1940, and retired from Armco in 1982.

Secretary of Commerce

Secretary of Commerce Verity (center) to being sworn in office with the wife, Peggy W. Verity (left), to holder book, and the U.S. President Ronald Reagan (far right).

Between 1980 and 1981, Verity was a chairman in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. In 1981, he served as chairman of Reagan's bipartisan task force on Private Sector Initiatives (PSI). In 1983, he was appointed to be a member of PSI's Advisory Council and later served on PSI's Board of Advisors. Between 1979 and 1984, he co-chaired the U.S.-U.S.S.R. Trade Economic Council, a private sector council of American and Soviet businessmen.

During Verity's time at the U.S. Department of Commerce, he established the Commerce Hall of Fame in 1988 to honor good employees of the department. In 1988, he also created the Office of Space Commerce to support the National Space Council. That office was an early version of the Office of Space Commercialization, an office created to promote the effective commercial use of outer space. According to Jonathan Chait of The New Republic, Verity kept a passage from Ayn Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged on his desk, including the line "How well you do your work . . . [is] the only measure of human value."^[3]

Personal life

Verity's wife, the former Margaret Wymond Verity known as Peggy, and had two sons and a daughter together, (Peggy Verity Power, Jonathan George Verity and William Wymond Verity).

He died on January 3, 2007, a complications of pneumonia, in Beaufort, South Carolina, at the age of 89.^[4] His wife, Peggy Verity died on Wednesday, January 20, 1999, at age 81. He is interred in Woodside Cemetery, Middletown, Ohio.

References

1. Steve LeVine, The Oil and the Glory, Random House, 2007.
2. "C. William Verity Jr. -- Former Commerce Secretary, 89". New York Times 6 Jan. 2007, late ed.: A16.
3. Chait Jonathan (2009-09-14) Wealthcare, The New Republic
4. "C. William Verity Jr., Former Commerce Secretary, 89, Dies". New York Times. 2007-01-06.

External links

• William Verity profile, NNDB.