Preceded by Howard H. Leach Name Craig Stapleton President George W. Bush Role Ambassador | Preceded by John Shattuck Succeeded by Charles Rivkin Alma mater Harvard University Children Walker Stapleton | |
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President George W. Bush
Barack Obama Spouse(s) Dorothy Walker Stapleton Residence Greenwich, Connecticut, United States Education Phillips Exeter Academy, Harvard University, Harvard Business School | ||
Craig Roberts Stapleton (born 1945) is a former United States ambassador to France and the Czech Republic.
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Early life
Craig Stapleton was born in Kansas City, Missouri. His grandfather, Benjamin F. Stapleton, was a politician who served five terms as mayor of Denver. He received his secondary school education at Phillips Exeter Academy and a B.A. (magna cum laude) from Harvard University. He received his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. His wife, Dorothy Walker Stapleton, is a first cousin of former U.S. president George H.W. Bush.
Career
He served as President of Marsh and McLennan Real Estate Advisors of New York from 1982 until 2001. From 1989 to 1998 Stapleton co-owned the Texas Rangers baseball team with George W. Bush. He has served on the board of directors for several companies including Allegheny Properties, Metro PCS, TB Woods and Winston Partners. In July 2009, he became a co-owner of the St. Louis Cardinals.
During the administration of George H.W. Bush, Stapleton sat on the Board of the Peace Corps. He served as ambassador to the Czech Republic from August 2001 to December 2003. In 2004, he was the Connecticut State Chairman for the Bush-Cheney reelection campaign. In June 2005 he was appointed ambassador to France and served until January 29, 2009. He is a member of CERGE-EI Foundation supporting economic education in transition and developing countries.
In 2007 he recommended to the Bush administration that they wage a trade war on European crops, due to European resistance to genetically modified foods such as MON 810, thus denying a key US export.
"Ambassador Stapleton goes on to write, quote, "Country team Paris recommends that we calibrate a target retaliation list that causes some pain across the EU since this is a collective responsibility, but that also focuses in part on the worst culprits. The list should be measured rather than vicious and must be sustainable over the long term, since we should not expect an early victory," he wrote."
Stapleton made an appearance on the Food Network show, The Next Iron Chef in 2007. The final three chefs remaining in the competition each prepared a three-course American-themed dinner for the ambassador and 20 guests. The competition took place in the ambassador's official residence.
Personal life
He and his wife live in Greenwich, Connecticut and have two adult children; his son Walker Stapleton was elected Colorado State Treasurer in 2010.