Stone, Richard, 1928-2019

Richard Bernard Stone (September 22, 1928 – July 28, 2019) was an American lawyer, politician, and diplomat. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a Democratic United States Senator from Florida from 1975 to 1980, as Ambassador at Large to Central America from 1983 to 1984, and as Ambassador to Denmark from 1991 to 1993.

Born in New York City, he was raised in Dade County, Florida where he attended public schools. Stone graduated cum laude with a B.A. from Harvard University in 1949 and received a LL.B. from Columbia Law School in 1954. He returned to Florida and was admitted to the Florida Bar in 1955, practicing in Miami. In 1966, Stone became Miami City Attorney and was elected to the Florida Senate in 1967, representing Dade County. In 1970, he was elected Secretary of State of Florida.

In 1974, Stone ran in an 11-candidate Democratic primary election for Florida's U.S. Senate seat, winning in a runoff. In the general election, Stone narrowly defeated businessman Jack Eckerd to become the second Jewish U.S. Senator from Florida. During Stone's term in the U.S. Senate, he was a member of the Foreign Relations Committee and was a strong advocate for the Panama Canal Torrijos–Carter Treaties. He also voted for neutron bomb funding, deregulation of natural gas, and public funding of congressional campaigns, and voted against an early version of the Kemp–Roth Tax Cut and funding medically necessary abortions. He led efforts to secure congressional aid for Israel and also served as an important advisor during the 1978 Camp David Peace Treaty. In addition to the Foreign Relations Committee, Stone served on the Agriculture Committee. In 1980, Stone lost the Democratic primary for a second Senate term. He resigned three days before his term would have otherwise ended.

From 1981 to 1982, he was senior resident partner at the law firm of Proskauer, Rose, Goetz & Mendelsohn in Washington, D.C. During that time, the Spanish-speaking Stone worked as a paid lobbyist for the right-wing Guatemalan government of Fernando Romeo Lucas García.[8] On January 19, 1982, Stone was named as Vice Chairman of the President's Commission for Radio Broadcasting to Cuba. He was also vice chairman of the board of Capital Bank of Washington. In February 1983, Stone served in the Department of State as Special Representative of the President for Public Diplomacy in Central America. On April 28, 1983, President Reagan announced Stone's appointment as Ambassador at Large and Special Envoy to Central America. He resigned from this role effective March 1, 1984, allegedly after experiencing personality conflicts with Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs, Langhorne A. Motley.

Stone continued working with Capital Bank and, in 1989, was named chief operating officer. On November 9, 1991, he was nominated by President George H. W. Bush to be U.S. Ambassador to Denmark. The nomination was successful and Stone served from November 21, 1991 to October 14, 1993. On December 28, 1995, Stone was appointed voting trustee for the discount drug store business, Dart Drug, which was owned by Herbert Haft and embroiled in a widely publicized family dispute. On September 24, 1997, Haft and Stone voted to appoint Stone as acting chief executive officer and, in February 1998, Stone was named chief executive officer. By mid-1998, Dart Group was sold to Richfood.

Stone died on July 28, 2019 at a clinic in Rockville, Maryland from complications of pneumonia and other illnesses. He was interred in King David Memorial Gardens in Falls Church, Virginia.