Bill Gradison, Jr.

(1928 -)

Willis David "Bill" Gradison, Jr. is a Jewish American politician who served in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Gradison (born December 28, 1928) was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and attended elementary and secondary schools in Cincinnati. He recieved his B.A. from Yale University in  1949 and earned his M.B.A. from the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration in 1951. He also earned his D.C.S. from Harvard University in 1954.

From 1953 to 1955, Gradison served as an assistant to the Under Secretary of the United States Treasury, and from 1955 to 1957, as an assistant to the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare. From 1961 to 1974, he was an elected member of the Cincinnati City Council and served as Mayor of Cincinnati in 1971.

In November 1974, Gradison was elected as a Republican to represent Ohio's 1st district in the U.S. House of Representatives. He was subsequently re-elected nine times, serving in Congress until his resignation January 31, 1993.

After his congressional career, Gradison was president of the Health Insurance Association of America. In 2002, he was appointed by the Securities and Exchange Commission as a founding Member of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) and served on the board until February 2011.

Gradison currently is a Scholar in Residence in the Health Sector Management Program at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business.

Sources: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress; Wikipedia