Gerald Stephen "Gerry" McGowan (born September 3, 1946

Birmingham, Michigan Birmingham is a city in Oakland County, Michigan, Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is a northern suburb of Detroit located along the Woodward Corridor (M-1 (Michigan highway), M-1). As of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 censu ...

) is an American lawyer, wireless industry entrepreneur, and diplomat. He was appointed

United States Ambassador to Portugal Bilateral diplomatic relations between the United States and Portugal date from the earliest years of the United States. Following the American Revolutionary War, Revolutionary War, Portugal was the first neutral country to diplomatic recognitio ...

on November 10, 1997, and was sworn in by Vice President

Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American former politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. He previously served as ...

. He presented his credentials in

Lisbon, Portugal Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

on March 19, 1998 and left his post on July 3, 2001.

Life and career

McGowan was born and raised in

to Harry and Mary McGowan, where he attended Brother Rice High School. While working towards his B.S. from

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

and a J.D. degree from

Georgetown Law Georgetown University Law Center is the law school of Georgetown University, a private research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It was established in 1870 and is the largest law school in the United States by enrollment, with over ...

, Gerry served as a clerk to Michigan Supreme Court Justice Thomas Kavanagh, and as an assistant to the late U.S. Senator

Philip Hart Philip Aloysius Hart (December 10, 1912December 26, 1976) was an American lawyer and politician. A Democrat, he served as a United States Senator from Michigan from 1959 until his death from cancer in Washington, D.C. in 1976. He was known as ...

. He also served in the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

as a

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

1st Lieutenant in 1970-1971. A classmate at Georgetown was then class President and eventual United States President,

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

. McGowan is a career

telecommunications Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communication technologies. These means of ...

industry lawyer and is a founding partner of the

Washington D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

law firm Lukas, McGowan, Nace & Gutierrez. McGowan played an important role in negotiations between the US administration and the Portuguese leadership, during the

East Timor Timor-Leste, also known as East Timor, officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is a country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the coastal exclave of Oecusse in the island's northwest, and ...

struggle for independence from

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

in late 1999 and early 2000. A telecommunications industry veteran, McGowan sat on the board of directors of

Portugal Telecom Altice Portugal S.A. (formerly known as PT Portugal) is the largest telecommunications service provider in Portugal. Since 2 June 2015 the company has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Altice, a multinational cable and telecommunications company ...

from 2003-2015. On June 1, 2015, McGowan was appointed by President Obama to the Board of Visitors of the United States Military Academy - West Point. McGowan also served as a visiting fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School's Institute of Politics in April, 2016.

Family

He is the father of seven children, Jason, Zachary, Lukas, Connor, Molly, Sean and Dylan by his first wife, the former Sharon Shapiro, who died of breast cancer on April 8, 1995. He married Susan Brophy on January 10, 1998. They currently reside in

Arlington, Virginia Arlington County, or simply Arlington, is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Virginia. The county is located in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from Washington, D.C., the nati ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McGowan, Gerald S. 1946 births Living people American lawyers Walsh School of Foreign Service alumni Georgetown University Law Center alumni People from Arlington County, Virginia People from Birmingham, Michigan People from Washington, D.C. Ambassadors of the United States to Portugal United States Army officers Military personnel from Michigan