Sumner Gerard

After the war 1940s, Gerard became involved in his family's real estate business, the Aeon Realty Company, with interests in Manhattan, Long Island, and New Jersey.[1][5] However, Gerard wished to move to the western United States.[7] He began studying ranching, and in 1947 toured several western states, deciding on Montana.[7] In 1948, he purchased what is now known as the Bar 7 Ranch in Ennis,[7] Montana, moving there with his family in 1949.[1][2] Gerard operated the ranch as both a home and a livestock operation, raising cattle and horses.[7] He also owned another ranch in the town of Dillon.[2][5] However, the ranch was never profitable, and Gerard received assistance from his father through monies and stocks in order to help him reduce with his significant debt.[7]

Thanks to his father's financial assistance as well as that of a company owned by his family, Gerard was able to maintain a comfortable lifestyle, covering ranch expenses, educational expenses for his children, and costs of operating a private airplane.[7] In addition to ranching, Gerard had business interests in Billings and Bozeman,[2][5] and was a mining executive for Newmont Resources and a director of Cardinal Petroleum, both based in Billings.[1]

Sometime after moving to Montana, Gerard became involved in state politics.[1][2][3][7] In 1954, he was elected to the Montana Legislature as a Republican representing Madison County, with his term beginning in 1955.[2][4][5][7] He was elected to three terms in the House, serving in his final term as minority leader from 1959 to 1961.[1][7][8][9]

On December 17, 1959, Gerard announced his campaign for the Republican nomination for the United States Senate, and said:

[I am] convinced that Montana must look and think ahead, or we will forfeit our potential. I intend to file for nomination to the U.S. Senate with the hope that Montana will send new blood with a fresh outlook to Washington to best represent all Montanans."[6]

However, Gerard lost the nomination in the Republican primary, finishing second in a six-way race, earning 27% of the vote, compared to 39% of votes for nominee Orvin B. Fjare.[4][7] His father helped fund his campaign, which cost $20,000.[7] One source writes that he may have lost in the primary "because Montanans did not believe him to be authentically Montanan."[4]

In 1962, Gerard earned the Republican nomination for the Montana Senate from Madison County.[10] He won the election, serving in the Senate from 1962 to 1966.[1][2][3][5] He was elected minority leader, serving in that capacity from 1965 to 1966.[1][9]

In 1969, Gerard left Montana to pursue a career as a diplomat,[2][5] and relocated temporarily to New Jersey.[11] In 1969, the Nixon administration sent him to Rome, Italy, as a delegate to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.[1][2][5] In 1970, he was named mission director for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in Tunisia, a position he held until 1974.[1][2][12] On March 22, 1974, President Richard Nixon appointed him United States Ambassador to Jamaica, and he presented credentials on June 4, 1974.[11] He served as ambassador through the presidency of Gerald Ford and the beginning of the Carter administration, leaving the position in 1977.[1][2][3][4][11][13]

After leaving his ambassadorship, Gerard relocated to Florida from New Jersey.[1] He was an active benefactor of marine biology and a frequent sponsor of underwater archaeological expeditions and in 1977 became an adjunct professor of maritime archaeology at the University of Miami.[1][2]