Sumner Gerard then moved to Florida, serving as an adjunct professor of marine archaeology at the University of Miami and sponsoring and participating in underwater archaeology expeditions.
27 Facts About Sumner Gerard
1.
2.
Sumner Gerard died in 2005 in Vero Beach, Florida, aged 88.
3.
Sumner Gerard was born in Melville, New York, a hamlet in the Long Island town of Huntington.
4.
One of his ancestors from the maternal side of the Gerard family was Increase Sumner, Governor of Massachusetts and associate justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.
5.
Sumner Gerard graduated from the Groton School, a private boarding secondary school in Groton, Massachusetts.
6.
Sumner Gerard attended Trinity College at the University of Cambridge, earning a Bachelor of Arts in 1937 and a Master of Arts in 1939.
7.
Sumner Gerard started out as a buck private in the Army Air Corps, spent time as a parachutist, and ended his service four years later as an infantry captain of intelligence in the Marines.
8.
Sumner Gerard's service spanned such locations as the Middle East and North Africa, Washington, DC, China, Burma, and California.
9.
Sumner Gerard received the Army Commendation Medal and the Order of the British Empire.
10.
However, Sumner Gerard wished to move to the western United States.
11.
Sumner Gerard began studying ranching, and in 1947 toured several western states, deciding on Montana.
12.
Sumner Gerard operated the ranch as both a home and a livestock operation, raising cattle and horses.
13.
Sumner Gerard owned another ranch in the town of Dillon.
14.
However, the ranch was never profitable, and Sumner Gerard received assistance from his father through monies and stocks in order to help him reduce with his significant debt.
15.
Thanks to his father's financial assistance as well as that of a company owned by his family, Sumner Gerard was able to maintain a comfortable lifestyle, covering ranch expenses, educational expenses for his children, and costs of operating a private airplane.
16.
Sometime after moving to Montana, Sumner Gerard became involved in state politics.
17.
Sumner Gerard was elected to three terms in the House, serving in his final term as minority leader from 1959 to 1961.
18.
On December 17,1959, Sumner Gerard announced his campaign for the Republican nomination for the United States Senate, and said:.
19.
Sumner Gerard's father helped fund his campaign, which cost $20,000.
20.
In 1962, Sumner Gerard earned the Republican nomination for the Montana Senate from Madison County.
21.
Sumner Gerard won the election, serving in the Senate from 1962 to 1966.
22.
Sumner Gerard was elected minority leader, serving in that capacity from 1965 to 1966.
23.
In 1969, Sumner Gerard left Montana to pursue a career as a diplomat, and relocated temporarily to New Jersey.
24.
Sumner Gerard served as ambassador through the presidency of Gerald Ford and the beginning of the Carter administration, leaving the position in 1977.
25.
Sumner Gerard was an active benefactor of marine biology and a frequent sponsor of underwater archaeological expeditions and in 1977 became an adjunct professor of maritime archaeology at the University of Miami.
26.
Sumner Gerard had five children with his first wife: Jenny, Molly, Helen, Anne, and Sumner.
27.
Sumner Gerard died of natural causes in a hospital in Vero Beach, Florida, on February 24,2005.