| William McCormick Blair Jr. | |
| Order: | 10th |
| Ambassador From: | United States |
| Country: | Philippines |
| Term Start: | 1964 |
| Term End: | 1967 |
| Predecessor: | William Stevenson |
| Successor: | G. Mennen Williams |
| Order2: | 46th |
| President2: | John F. Kennedy Lyndon B. Johnson |
| Ambassador From2: | United States |
| Country2: | Denmark |
| Term Start2: | 1961 |
| Term End2: | 1964 |
| Predecessor2: | Val Peterson |
| Successor2: | Katharine White |
| Birth Date: | 24 October 1916 |
| Birth Place: | Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Death Place: | Manhattan, New York, U.S. |
| Education: | Stanford University (B.A.) University of Virginia (J.D.) |
| Party: | Democratic |
| Spouse: | Catherine Gerlach |
| Children: | William McCormick Blair III |
| Parents: | William M. Blair Helen Hadduck Bowen |
William McCormick "Bill" Blair Jr. (October 24, 1916 – August 29, 2015) was an American diplomat who served as United States Ambassador to Denmark from 1961 to 1964 and as United States Ambassador to the Philippines from 1964 until 1967. A lawyer, he also was a close associate of Adlai Stevenson II. He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws (L.L. D.) degree from Whittier College in 1964.[1]
Blair was a son of Helen Hadduck (Bowen) and William M. Blair, who co-founded the investment banking firm William Blair & Company.[2] He graduated from the Groton School in 1935, Stanford University, and the University of Virginia Law School in 1947.
On September 9, 1961, in the chapel at Frederiksborg Castle in Hillerød, Denmark, Ambassador Blair married Catherine "Deeda" Gerlach (born 1931), the former wife of oleomargarine heir Charles Clarke Jelke and the only daughter of Norman Harbridge Gerlach (1904–1980), a partner in the Chicago law firm Gerlach & O'Brien, and his wife, the former Joanna Powell. Deeda Blair (who was later a subject of portraits by Andy Warhol)[3] was named director and vice-president of the Lasker Foundation in 1965 and is a noted advocate for public health issues.
The couple had one child, a son named William McCormick Blair III, who committed suicide in May 2004 at age 41. After their son's death, they relocated from Washington, D.C., to New York City.[4] He died on August 29, 2015, at his home in Manhattan at the age of 98.[5]