Frank E. Loy

Frank E. Loy (born December 25, 1928) is an American diplomat, business and nonprofit executive, and attorney. He is best known for serving as United States Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs from November 2, 1998, to January 20, 2001, under President Bill Clinton. In that position, he was the chief United States negotiator for issues such as climate change and trade on genetically modified agricultural products.

He has been senior vice president for international affairs at Pan American Airways, president of the German Marshall Fund of the United States, president of the Penn Central Corporation, and an attorney with O’Melveny & Myers.

Early and personal life Frank E. Loy was born on December 25, 1928, in Nuremberg, Germany. Raised in Germany, Italy and Switzerland in his early years, Loy went to public schools in Los Angeles from the age of 10. He earned a B.A. degree at the University of California, Los Angeles and an LL.B. at Harvard Law School.

He lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife, Dale Haven Loy, a painter. They have two children and four grandchildren.

Private career Loy began his career practicing corporate law in Los Angeles with the firm of O'Melveny & Myers. From 1970 to 1973 he served as Senior Vice President for International and Regulatory Affairs of Pan American World Airways. It concentrated exclusively on issues affecting both Europe and the U.S., particularly in the fields of economics, politics and the environment.

Following the fall of the Berlin Wall, GMF concentrated the bulk of its resources on promoting democratic institutions (such as an independent press, a functioning legislature, effective political parties, an independent judiciary, a civil society of non-governmental institutions, etc.) in former Soviet-bloc Eastern European countries.

He served in 1994 as Chair of the Conference of Parties of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITIES), in which over 1,000 delegates from more than 120 countries and over 500 observers participated. In 1996, Loy was a Visiting Lecturer at the Yale Law School, teaching a course in international environmental law and policy. Resources For The Future, and The Washington Ballet.

His prior boards also include The Foundation for A Civil Society (chair), which promoted democratic development in Central and Eastern Europe; the Budapest-based Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe, to which he was appointed in 1990 by President George H. W. Bush, the League of Conservation Voters, and the Foundation for a Civil Society, which has conducted programs promoting democratic institutions in Central and Eastern Europe, particularly Czechia and Slovakia.