ACCESSION
NUMBER:370474
FILE ID:ESX402
DATE:12/08/94
TITLE:DEFENSE SECRETARY WILLIAM J. PERRY (12/08/94)
TEXT:*94120802.ESX
1ESX402 12/08/94
DEFENSE SECRETARY WILLIAM J. PERRY
(Perry official biography) (550)
(The official biography of Defense Secretary William J. Perry was provided
by his office.)
Dr. William J. Perry was sworn in as Secretary of Defense on February 3,
1994, following a unanimous vote by the Senate. He previously served as
Deputy Secretary of Defense from March 5, 1993, until his confirmation as
Secretary. Prior to his nomination to these positions, he was the Chairman
of Technology Strategies Alliances, a professor in the School of
Engineering at Stanford University, and Co-Director of Stanford's Center
for International Security and Arms Control.
Dr. Perry was born October 11, 1927, in Vandergrift, Pa. He attended Butler
High School, in Butler, Pa., graduating in 1945. He received his B.S. and
M.S. from Stanford University and his Ph.D. from Penn State, all in
mathematics. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a
fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
From 1946 until 1947, Dr. Perry was a noncommissioned officer in the Army
Corps of Engineers, serving in Japan and Okinawa. He joined the Reserve
Officer Training Corps in 1948 and was commissioned a second lieutenant in
the Army Reserves in 1950. He remained in the reserves until 1955.
Dr. Perry's extensive experience as an entrepreneur includes being one of
the founders of ESL Inc., in 1964, and serving as its president until 1977.
Prior to that, he was with Sylvania/General Telephone and was the Director
of their Electronic Defense Laboratories. He has also served as Executive
Vice President of Hambrecht and Quist Incorporated, an investment banking
firm in San Francisco specializing in high technology companies.
From 1977 to 1981, Dr. Perry was Under Secretary of Defense for Research and
Engineering. As Under Secretary, he was responsible for all weapon systems
procurement and all research and development. He was the Secretary of
Defense's principal advisor on technology, communications, intelligence,
and atomic energy.
He received the Army's Outstanding Service Medal in 1977, the Department of
Defense's Distinguished Public Service Medal in 1980 and again in 1981, and
NASA's Distinguished Service Medal in 1981. He was awarded the 1980 Medal
of Achievement by the American Electronics Association. The Federal
Republic of Germany awarded him the Knight Commander's Cross in 1981, and
the French government conferred the Grand Officer de l'Ordre National du
Merite in 1982. He received the James Forrestal Memorial Award for 1993 in
March 1994.
Dr. Perry has served as a director of FMC Corporation, United Technologies
Corporation, and a number of private companies. He has also been a trustee
of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and served on a number of
U.S. Government Advisory boards, including the President's Foreign
Intelligence Advisory Board and the Technical Review Panel of the U.S.
Senate's Select Committee on Intelligence. He was a member of the Carnegie
Commission on Science, Technology, and Government, and the Committee on
International Security and Arms Control of the National Academy of Science.
His wife, Lee, is a CPA, formerly associated with the firm of Hemming and
Morse in San Mateo. Secretary Perry and Mrs. Perry have two sons living in
the San Francisco area, a son and a daughter in the Washington, D.C. area,
and a daughter in New York.
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