Raymond G. H. Seitz


Raymond George Hardenbergh Seitz is a former career diplomat and U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom. He was born in Honolulu, Hawaii on December 8, 1940. He is the son of United States Army Major General John F. R. Seitz and Helen Seitz.
He graduated from Yale University in 1963 with a BA in history, following which he spent two years teaching in Dallas, Texas. He joined the US Foreign Service in 1966. He was the first career diplomat in modern history to be made Ambassador to the UK – the post is usually given to a political appointee.

Career

Seitz was a member of the Founding Council of the Rothermere American Institute at Oxford University.

Retirement

Since retiring from the foreign service, Seitz has held numerous directorships, governorships, and trusteeships. He was Senior Managing Director at Lehman Brothers International from 1995–1996, and Vice-Chairman from 1996–2003. He has held non-executive directorships on the boards of British Airways, Hong Kong Telecom, Marconi, General Electric Co, Rio Tinto Group and Cable & Wireless. As of November 2004, he is currently on the boards of the Chubb Group, PCCW, and Hollinger International.
He was a trustee of the National Gallery between 1996 and 2001 and was a member of the Founding Council of the Rothermere American Institute, University of Oxford.
He is a current governor of the Ditchley Foundation.
He is a former trustee of the Royal Academy of Arts and the World Monuments Fund. He is a former member of the Advisory Council of the Institute for International Studies at Stanford University.
He is married with three children.

Honorary degrees

Seitz has received a number of honorary degrees, among them:
He has also received honorary degrees from the universities of Buckingham, Royal Holloway, Leeds, and the Open University.

Awards

Seitz has written several articles for the Daily Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph, The Times and The Literary Review, as well as broadcasting several essays for the BBC. He published his first book, Over Here in 1998, an autobiographical review of his time as ambassador and life in the UK.