WALTER CURLEY

CURLEY--Walter J.P.

Walter J.P. Curley, (1922-2016) died peacefully on June 2 in New York, where he was a longterm resident. He was born in Pittsburgh, PA, attended Phillips Academy Andover, Yale University, Harvard Business School and the University of Oslo, and has an Honorary Doctorate in Law from Trinity College, Dublin. In World War II, Ambassador Curley, a Marine Corps infantry combat officer, served in the Iwo Jima, Okinawa, Guam and North China campaigns, and holds decorations from the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and The Republic of China. With the Caltex Oil Company, he worked in India and Italy (1949-1959) before becoming a partner in J.H. Whitney & Co, the venture capital firm (1960-1974). He was Commissioner of Public Events and was Chief of Protocol of New York City in the Lindsay administration. He was appointed Ambassador to Ireland by President Ford in 1975. He returned to the private sector to establish his own venture capital investment Business in New York in 1977. He served as Ambassador to France (1989-93) under President George H.W. Bush. He was a Trustee of the New York Public Library, Miss Porter's School, Brooks School in Massachusetts, The Buckley School, Barnard College, and a former director of the New York Life Insurance Company, Fiduciary Trust International, Bank of Ireland, Crane Co., Guinness Peat Aviation (U.S), Independent Newspapers Ltd. (Dublin), Fairchild Camera and Instrument Co., American Exploration Co., The New Yorker Magazine, the International Board of Banque Paribas, and Sotheby's Holdings, Inc. He is the author of four books: Almost a Century - An American Life East & West of Suez, Vanishing Kingdoms, Monarchs in Waiting, and Letters from the Pacific. Ambassador Curley was Honorary Chairman of the French American-Foundation, Chairman Emeritus of Sotheby's International Advisory Board, Trustee Emeritus of the American Hospital in Paris and of The Frick Collection; he was a member of the Council of American Ambassadors, and a member of The Council on Foreign Relations. He is survived by his wife of 67 years, the former Mary Taylor Walton of Pittsburgh, his daughter Margaret Bacon (Carter), his son, WJ Patrick III (Jane), and seven grandchildren: Kelly, Christina and Taylor Wiles, Joseph, William (Willa), Nina and Ross Curley. He was predeceased by two sons, John and James. Ambassador and Mrs. Curley lived in Manhattan and in the west of Ireland. Mass of the Resurrection St. Vincent Ferrer R.C. Church, Friday, June 10th at 10am. Services are being entrusted to Frank E. Campbell "The Funeral Chapel".