Robert H. Thayer

Robert Helyer Thayer (September 22, 1901 − January 26, 1984) was an American lawyer, naval officer and diplomat.

Early life Thayer was born in Southborough, Massachusetts, the son of Rev. William Greenough Thayer (1863−1934), headmaster of St. Mark's School from 1894−1930, and Violet Otis Thayer (1871−1962) of the Boston Brahmin Otis family. His elder brother, Sigourney Thayer (1896−1944), was a theatrical producer, aviator and poet.

Career After graduating from Law School, Thayer began practicing law in New York City under Gen. William Joseph Donovan. During his term, Soviet troops from Timișoara entered Hungary through the Romanian city of Oradea. In February 1957, he wrote to then Secretary of State John Foster Dulles stating:

"The Romanian Government is as usual straddling the fence with its customary skill. It is following Soviet instructions and its own inclination to keep its people from becoming too keen on us by attacking us publicly from every angle, and at the same time is keeping the door open for such economic and cultural advantages as it may glean at an appropriate moment." Thayer was married to Virginia Pratt (1905−1979). She was the daughter of lawyer, financier and philanthropist John Teele Pratt and Ruth Baker Pratt, the first U.S. Congresswoman from New York State, Her brother, Edwin H. Baker Pratt, was the headmaster of Buckingham Browne & Nichols, and her sister, Phyllis Pratt, was married to Paul Nitze, the Secretary of the Navy and Deputy Secretary of Defense under President Lyndon B. Johnson. Together, they were the parents of three children: Stephen Badger Thayer Sally Sears Thayer (d. 2001), a 1955 debutante who became a Broadway and Off-Broadway producer.

Thayer died of leukemia at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C., on January 26, 1984, and is buried at Southborough Rural Cemetery.