Kingdon Gould II

Kingdon Gould Jr. (January 3, 1924 – January 16, 2018) was an American diplomat, businessman, and philanthropist. A Republican businessman, Gould was appointed by President Richard Nixon to serve as United States Ambassador to Luxembourg, a position he would hold from 1969 through 1972. In 1973, Gould was appointed as Ambassador to the Netherlands also by President Nixon, serving until 1976.

He is member of the Gould family of financiers, philanthropists, and public servants.

Early life Gould was the third child and the only son of Kingdon Gould, Sr., and his wife, Annunziata Lucci. and graduated in 1942. He attended Yale University for two months in the spring of 1942 After returning from England in 1945, Gould returned to Yale to complete his undergraduate degree and then to study law, graduating in 1951.

Diplomatic career Gould served as United States ambassador to Luxembourg from May 1969 to October 1972 during the Richard Nixon administration. He later served as ambassador to the Netherlands from October 1973 to September 1976 under a second appointment by President Nixon, and continued serving through most of the Ford Administration.

When President Nixon delivered his resignation speech in August 1974, Chief Justice Warren E. Burger was visiting with Gould in The Hague during his tenure as Ambassador to the Netherlands. Gould's donations to Republican candidates and party organs attracted the attention of the media, as for instance in 2006 when The New York Times reported that he had donated $25,000 to the Republican National Committee.

In addition to his business and political interests, he was known in the area as a donor to a range of educational institutions. He also figured in the creation of the Capital Crescent Trail; having purchased the DC portion of the newly abandoned Georgetown branch from CSX in 1989, he sold the route to the National Park Service the following year. In his retirement, Gould was known in the Baltimore-area as a donor to a range of educational institutions.