Calvin William Verity Jr. (January 26, 1917 – January 3, 2007) was an American government official and steel industrialist who served as the 27th United States secretary of commerce between 1987 and 1989, under President Ronald Reagan.
After graduating from college, Verity tramped around the world and worked as maître d' at an upscale Manhattan restaurant.[4] He also served in the United States Navy from 1942 to 1945.[5] Verity worked for most of his career at Armco Steel, a corporation founded by his grandfather, George M. Verity.[6] He started there in 1940 and retired from Armco in 1982.
Between 1980 and 1981, Verity chaired the United States Chamber of Commerce. In 1981, he chaired Reagan's bipartisan task force on Private Sector Initiatives (PSI). In 1983, he was appointed a member of PSI's Advisory Council and later served on PSI's Board of Advisors. Between 1979 and 1984, he co-chaired the U.S.-U.S.S.R. Trade Economic Council, a private sector council of American and Soviet businessmen.
Verity's wife, the former Margaret Wymond Verity, known as Peggy, and they had two sons and a daughter together (Peggy Verity Power, Jonathan George Verity, and William Wymond Verity).
He died on January 3, 2007, a complications of pneumonia, in Beaufort, South Carolina, at the age of 89, twenty-three days before his 90th birthday.[8] His wife, Peggy Verity, died on Wednesday, January 20, 1999, at age 81. He is interred in Woodside Cemetery, Middletown, Ohio.
References
^Steve LeVine, The Oil and the Glory, Random House, 2007.
