William H. Gray III
American politician (1941–2013)
William Herbert Gray III (August 20, 1941 – July 1, 2013) was an American politician and member of the Democratic Party who represented Pennsylvania's 2nd congressional district from 1979 to 1991. He also served as chairman of the House Committee on the Budget from 1985 to 1989 and House Majority Whip from 1989 to 1991. He resigned from Congress in September of that year to become president and chief executive officer of the United Negro College Fund, a position he held until 2004.
He was the fourth-highest-ranking member of the House at the time of his resignation and a minister in Philadelphia.
Early life
Gray was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and spent his early years in Florida, where his father was president of Florida Normal and Industrial Institute in Miami Gardens, and then of Florida A & M College in Tallahassee. In 1949, upon the death of his grandfather, Gray's family moved to North Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he graduated from Simon Gratz High School. He attended Franklin & Marshall College, where he received a bachelor's degree in 1963. He went on to obtain a master's in divinity from Drew University in 1966 and a master's in theology from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1970. Gray received a L.H.D. from Bates College in 1994.
Career
In 1972, Gray succeeded his father as the senior minister at Bright Hope Baptist Church in Philadelphia.
The public source identifies “William H. Gray III” as american politician (1941–2013). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around William, Gray and American.
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This entry incorporates text from “William H. Gray III” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.