Robert Stephen Ingersoll (January 28, 1914 – August 22, 2010) was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 businessman and former diplomat. Ingersoll was Chief executive officer

Chief executive officer

A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...

 and Chairman of the Board of BorgWarner

BorgWarner

BorgWarner Inc. is a United States-based worldwide automotive industry components and parts supplier. It is primarily known for its powertrain products, which include manual and automatic transmissions and transmission components, , turbochargers, engine valve timing system...

 and his international business experience was an important factor in his selection as United States Ambassador to Japan

United States Ambassador to Japan

The United States Ambassador to Japan is the ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary from the United States to Japan. Since the opening of Japan by Commodore Matthew C. Perry, in 1854, the U.S. maintained diplomatic relations with Japan, except for the ten-year period following the attack on...

 from 1972 to 1973, and assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs from 1973 to 1974, both during President Richard Nixon

Richard Nixon

Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...

's term in office. He served as United States Deputy Secretary of State

United States Deputy Secretary of State

The Deputy Secretary of State of the United States is the chief assistant to the Secretary of State. If the Secretary of State resigns or dies, the Deputy Secretary of State becomes Acting Secretary of State until the President nominates and the Senate confirms a replacement. The position was...

 from 1974 to 1976 under both Presidents Nixon and Gerald Ford

Gerald Ford

Gerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford, Jr. was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974...

.

Ingersoll was born on January 28, 1914 in Galesburg, Illinois

Galesburg, Illinois

Galesburg is a city in Knox County, Illinois, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 32,195. It is the county seat of Knox County....

. he attended the Phillips Academy

Phillips Academy

Phillips Academy is a selective, co-educational independent boarding high school for boarding and day students in grades 9–12, along with a post-graduate year...

 in Andover, Massachusetts

Andover, Massachusetts

Andover is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It was incorporated in 1646 and as of the 2010 census, the population was 33,201...

 and graduated from the Sheffield Scientific School

Sheffield Scientific School

Sheffield Scientific School was founded in 1847 as a school of Yale College in New Haven, Connecticut for instruction in science and engineering. Originally named the Yale Scientific School, it was renamed in 1861 in honor of Joseph E. Sheffield, the railroad executive. The school was...

 at Yale University

Yale University

Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

 in 1937. After two years with the Armco Steel Corporation

AK Steel Holding

AK Steel Corporation is an American steel company whose predecessor, Armco, was founded in 1899 in Middletown, Ohio. Today, the company's corporate headquarters is situated in West Chester, Ohio, after having moved from Middletown, Ohio, in August 2007.- Products :AK Steel's main products are...

, he was hired in 1939 by his father's company, Ingersoll Steel and Disc Company. The company was a subsidiary of Borg-Warner, and he was named in 1942 as works manager of the firm's Kalamazoo, Michigan

Kalamazoo, Michigan

The area on which the modern city stands was once home to Native Americans of the Hopewell culture, who migrated into the area sometime before the first millennium. Evidence of their early residency remains in the form of a small mound in downtown's Bronson Park. The Hopewell civilization began to...

 plant and as head of its Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 plant in 1945, before being named as division vice president in 1947 and president in 1950 and then as Borg-Warner administrative vice president in 1953. Ingersoll was named in 1956 as the firm's president and chief operating officer, succeeding his father in the post. He was named as that firm's chairman and chief executive in 1961. As CEO, Ingersoll was an active supporter of Urban League

National Urban League

The National Urban League , formerly known as the National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes, is a nonpartisan civil rights organization based in New York City that advocates on behalf of African Americans and against racial discrimination in the United States. It is the oldest and largest...

 programs, supporting "better housing, economic opportunities and voting rights for the colored race" and noting that "[o]ur labor force will be increasingly Negro". By 1972, the firm did business in 22 countries around the world and had global sales of $1.15 billion. Shifting to foreign car companies as U.S. domestic manufacturers bought production in house, by 1971 Ingersoll saw automobile transmission

Transmission (mechanics)

A machine consists of a power source and a power transmission system, which provides controlled application of the power. Merriam-Webster defines transmission as: an assembly of parts including the speed-changing gears and the propeller shaft by which the power is transmitted from an engine to a...

 sales increase more than tenfold to 487,000 units in the preceding decade.

Ingersoll's experience in dealing with business ventures in Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 played a major role in his choice by President Nixon as United States Ambassador to Japan in 1972, where he was only the second person who was not a career diplomat to be chosen in the period following World War II and the first businessperson to be selected. Ingersoll helped deal with differences between the nations regarding Japan's $3.5 trade surplus with the United States, negotiating agreements that led to Japanese imports in excess of $1 billion worth of American agricultural and manufactured products. In 1974, he was named as Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs

Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs

The Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs is the head of the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs within the United States Department of State. The Assistant Secretary guides operation of the U.S...

 and served in that post until 1976. After the Lockheed bribery scandals

Lockheed bribery scandals

The Lockheed bribery scandals encompassed a series of bribes and contributions made by officials of U.S. aerospace company Lockheed from the late 1950s to the 1970s in the process of negotiating the sale of aircraft....

 were disclosed to the public, Ingersoll played a lead role in the State Department's handling of the affair, which he stated had done "grievous damage" to U.S. foreign relations, with Lockheed having that Lockheed had paid $3 million in bribes to the office of Japanese Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka

Kakuei Tanaka

was a Japanese politician and the 64th and 65th Prime Minister of Japan from 7 July 1972 to 22 December 1972 and from 22 December 1972 to 9 December 1974 respectively...

 and more than $1 million in improper payments to Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

. The scandal led to the downfall of governments overseas and the resignations of two senior Lockheed officials.

As a trustee of the Aspen Institute of Humanistic Studies

Aspen Institute

The Aspen Institute is an international nonprofit organization founded in 1950 as the Aspen Institute of Humanistic Studies. The organization is dedicated to "fostering enlightened leadership, the appreciation of timeless ideas and values, and open-minded dialogue on contemporary issues." The...

, he was an active participant in the organization's programs conducted in Colorado

Colorado

Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...

, where he participated in discussions with labor officials, politicians and religious leaders on major issues facing society in addition to taking advantage of the skiing. Ingersoll was former Chairman of the Panasonic

Panasonic

Panasonic is an international brand name for Japanese electric products manufacturer Panasonic Corporation, which was formerly known as Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd...

 Foundation and also served as the Vice President of the Board of Directors of the United States Chamber of Commerce

United States Chamber of Commerce

The United States Chamber of Commerce is an American lobbying group representing the interests of many businesses and trade associations. It is not an agency of the United States government....

.

Ingersoll died at age 96 on August 22, 2010, at his home in Evanston, Illinois

Evanston, Illinois

Evanston is a suburban municipality in Cook County, Illinois 12 miles north of downtown Chicago, bordering Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, and Wilmette to the north, with an estimated population of 74,360 as of 2003. It is one of the North Shore communities that adjoin Lake Michigan...

. He was survived by three daughters, 11 grandchildren and 21 great-grandchildren. His wife, the former Coralyn Reed, died in 2001 after 63 years of marriage.

External links

• Light & Truth biography from Yale University
• Council of American Ambassadors profile
• The United States in Asia