Henry Morgenthau III

Photo courtesy of Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division

Known best as a television producer and scion of the famous Morgenthau dynasty, Henry Morgenthau III turned to poetry late in life, publishing A Sunday in Purgatory (2016) at age 99. He also wrote the biography Mostly Morgenthaus: A Family History (1991), winner of the 1992 National Jewish Book Council prize for memoir.

Morgenthau served in the U.S. Army during WWII and was awarded a Bronze Star. From 1955 to 1977, he was chief producer of WGBH-TV in Boston, where his shows won Peabody, Emmy, and United Press International Awards. He also served as Vice President of the Eleanor Roosevelt Institute, manager of the Morse Communication Center at Brandeis University, and was a fellow at the Shorenstein Center at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.

Morgenthau’s grandfather was a U.S. Ambassador. His father was Secretary of the Treasury under President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Morgenthau was married and the father of three children. The Armenian Assembly of America has established the Morgenthau Award for Meritorious Public Service in his name. This is his final address.