William H. Gray III

Early life

Gray was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and spent his early years in Florida, where his father was president of Florida Normal and Industrial Institute in Miami Gardens, and then of Florida A & M College in Tallahassee. In 1949, upon the death of his grandfather, Gray's family moved to North Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he graduated from 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 University 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 Philadelphia. He was elected as a Democrat to represent Philadelphia in the United States House of Representatives in 1978. He represented Pennsylvania's 2nd congressional district in the House of Representatives from 1978 until his resignation on September 11, 1991. He was the first African-American to chair the House Budget Committee and also the first to serve as the 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).

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.

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."

Outside politics he was also a businessman who has been a director at Dell from 2000. Gray was a director of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Prudential Financial Inc., Rockwell International Corporation, 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 Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. Gray died on July 1, 2013, in London, while attending the Wimbledon tennis tournament.

Awards and honors

In 1997, he received the Four Freedoms Award for the Freedom of Worship.

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.

References

References

1. .[https://web.archive.org/web/20081031134703/http://people.forbes.com/profile/william-h-gray/25746 William Gray's Profile on Forbes.com]
2. "Did Dick Cut Bill A Deal? Book: Thornburgh Had Goods On Gray - philly-archives". [[The Philadelphia Inquirer]].
3. "Why Would Gray Resign? Several Ideas Are Floated - philly-archives". [[The Philadelphia Inquirer]].
4. (April 20, 1990). "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". [[Los Angeles Times]].
5. "Editorials & Opinion | The Conniving Ways Of Dick Thornburgh". community.seattletimes.nwsource.com.
6. (October 3, 2008). "Black Americans in Congress, 1870-2007". United States Congress.
7. (2002). "Pennsylvania's Top Political Activists". The Publius Group.
8. "Former Congressman William Gray dies". UPI.
9. "Four Freedoms Awards | Roosevelt Institute".
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".".