Gary Locke | |
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10th United States Ambassador to China | |
In office August 16, 2011 – March 1, 2014 |
|
President | Barack Obama |
Preceded by | Jon Huntsman |
Succeeded by | Max Baucus |
36th United States Secretary of Commerce | |
In office March 26, 2009 – August 1, 2011 |
|
President | Barack Obama |
Deputy |
Dennis Hightower Rebecca Blank (Acting) |
Preceded by | Otto Wolff (Acting) |
Succeeded by | Rebecca Blank (Acting) |
21st Governor of Washington | |
In office January 15, 1997 – January 12, 2005 |
|
Lieutenant | Brad Owen |
Preceded by | Mike Lowry |
Succeeded by | Christine Gregoire |
5th Executive of King County | |
In office January 4, 1994 – January 15, 1997 |
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Preceded by | Tim Hill |
Succeeded by | Ron Sims |
Member of the Washington House of Representatives from the 37th district |
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In office January 10, 1983 – January 3, 1994 |
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Preceded by | Peggy Maxie |
Succeeded by | Vivian Caver |
Personal details | |
Born |
Gary Faye Locke January 21, 1950 Seattle, Washington, U.S. |
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse(s) | Mona Lee (1994–present) |
Children | 3 |
Education |
Yale University (BA) Boston University (JD) |
Gary Locke | |||||||||||||
Traditional Chinese | 駱家輝 | ||||||||||||
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Simplified Chinese | 骆家辉 | ||||||||||||
Cantonese Yale | Lok Gāfāi | ||||||||||||
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Transcriptions | |
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Standard Mandarin | |
Hanyu Pinyin | Luò Jiāhuī |
Yue: Cantonese | |
Yale Romanization | Lok Gāfāi |
Jyutping | Lok3 Gaa1 fai1 |
Gary Faye Locke (born January 21, 1950) is an American politician. Locke was the United States ambassador to China (2011-14). He was the 21st Governor of Washington (1997-2005) and served in the Obama administration as United States Secretary of Commerce (2009-11).
Locke is the first governor in the continental United States of Asian descent, and is the only Chinese American ever to serve as a governor of any state. He is also the first Chinese American to serve as the U.S. ambassador to China.
Gary Locke was born on January 21, 1950, in Seattle, Washington, and spent his early years living in the Yesler Terrace public housing project. A third-generation Chinese American with paternal ancestry from Taishan, Guangdong, China, Locke is the second of five children of James Locke, who served as a staff sergeant in the U.S. Fifth Armored Division during World War II. His wife, Julie, is from Hong Kong. His paternal grandfather left China in the 1890s and moved to the United States, where he worked as a houseboy in Olympia, Washington, in exchange for English lessons. Gary Locke did not learn how to speak English until he was five years old and entered kindergarten.