John Jeffry Louis Jr. | |
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1981 (on left)
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Born |
Evanston, Illinois |
June 10, 1925
Died | February 15, 1995 Winnetka, Illinois |
(aged 69)
Alma mater |
Williams College Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College |
Occupation | Businessman, diplomat |
Spouse(s) | Josephine Louis |
Children | John Jeffry Louis, III, Tracy Merrill, Kim Stewart |
Parent(s) |
John Jeffry Louis Henrietta Johnson Louis |
John Jeffry Louis Jr. (June 10, 1925 – February 15, 1995) was an American businessman and diplomat. He served as the United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom.
John J. Louis Jr., was born in Evanston, Illinois to Chicago advertiser John Jeffry Louis and Johnson Wax heiress Henrietta Johnson Louis. He grew up in the Chicago area.
During the Second World War, he served in the United States Army Air Forces (1943–1945), where he was a second lieutenant and pilot. After the war, he received a bachelor of arts degree from Williams College and a master in business administration from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College in 1949.
Entering business in 1951, John J. Louis Jr. started in his father's advertising firm, Needham, Louis, and Brorby. In 1953, he married Josephine Louis (née Peters), with whom he had three children. He then joined S.C. Johnson and Son in 1958. S.C. Johnson was the successor company of his great-grandfather's company, Johnson Wax. At S.C. Johnson, John J. Louis Jr. was director of international marketing until 1961.
From 1961 to 1968, he was chairman of KTAR Broadcasting in Phoenix, Arizona, until it merged with a local billboard company to form Combined Communications Corporation. He then served as chair of the merged company. In 1979, Combined Communications merged with Gannett, and John J. Louis Jr. joined Gannett.
His first diplomatic work was in the ceremonial role of Special Ambassador in 1972 at an independence celebration in Gabon, during the presidency of Richard Nixon. More substantially, he was nominated to the post of United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom by President Ronald Reagan on March 27, 1981. He served in that post until his resignation on September 19, 1983. In his resignation, Ambassador Louis expressed optimism about the quality of relations with the United Kingdom and the government of Margaret Thatcher, yet stated his desire to return to corporate and philanthropic pursuits.