{{Short description|American shipping executive and special ambassador for trade}} {{Use American English|date=March 2026}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2026}} {{Infobox officeholder |name = William Roth |image = Portrait de William M. Roth.jpg |caption = Portrait of William Roth |office = 2nd [[United States Trade Representative]] |president = [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] |term_start = March 24, 1967 |term_end = January 20, 1969 |predecessor = [[Christian Herter]] |successor = [[Carl J. Gilbert]] |birth_name = William Matson Roth |birth_date = {{birth date|1916|9|3}} |birth_place = {{nowrap|[[San Francisco]], [[California]], U.S.}} |death_date = {{death date and age|2014|5|29|1916|9|3}} |death_place = [[Petaluma, California|Petaluma]], [[California]], U.S. |party = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] |spouse = Joan Osborn |children = 3 }} '''William Matson Roth''' (September 3, 1916 – May 29, 2014) was an American shipping executive, special ambassador for trade, member of the [[ACLU]] executive committee, and Regent for the [[University of California]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/~ucalhist/general_history/overview/regents/biographies_r.html |title=University of California History Digital Archives |publisher=Sunsite.berkeley.edu |accessdate=2013-09-28 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131002130533/http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/~ucalhist/general_history/overview/regents/biographies_r.html |archivedate=2013-10-02 }}</ref> He is credited with the preservation of [[Ghirardelli Square]] in [[San Francisco]].
==Early life and family== He was born in [[San Francisco, California]], the son of [[Lurline Matson Roth]] and William Philip Roth.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vo8vAAAAMAAJ&q=%22William+matson+roth%22+1916 |title=CQ Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report - Google Books |date=2007-03-31 |accessdate=2014-06-05}}</ref> His maternal grandfather was [[William Matson]], the founder of the [[Matson Navigation Company]]. Roth attended and graduated from [[Yale University]] in 1939.<ref name=sfgate1/><ref>{{cite press release |url=http://aei.pitt.edu/74333/1/BIO_-_EN-MULTI_-_Roth.pdf#page=3 |title=Nomination of Ambassador William M. Roth of California |date=January 26, 1967 |publisher=Office of the White House Press Secretary |access-date=14 September 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/16/business/william-m-roth-shipping-heir-who-became-lifelong-public-servant-dies-at-97.html |title=William M. Roth, Shipping Heir Who Became Lifelong Public Servant, Dies at 97 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=June 16, 2014 |access-date=14 September 2021 |url-access=subscription}}</ref>
Roth married Joan Osborn in 1946 and together they had three daughters (Anna, Margaret, Jessica). Osborn was the daughter of conservationist [[Henry Fairfield Osborn Jr.]]<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1946/04/14/archives/miss-joan-osborn-w-m-roth-married-principals-in-wedding-and-a.html |title=Miss Joan Osborn, W.M. Roth married; principals in wedding and a bride-elect |date=April 14, 1946 |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=14 September 2021}}</ref> Roth died on May 29, 2014, in [[Petaluma, California]].<ref name="sfgate1"/>
One daughter, Maggie Roth, wife of artist [[David Best (sculptor)|David Best]],<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.metroactive.com/papers/sonoma/04.15.99/dining-9915.html |title=A brief history of tea leads us strangely to Petaluma |author=Giles, Gretchen |date=April 15–21, 1999 |work=Sonoma County Independent |access-date=14 September 2021}}</ref> lives on what is now known as the [[Fairfield Osborn Preserve]]; it was purchased by the Roth family in the 1950s and subsequently donated to the [[Nature Conservancy]].<ref>{{cite interview |url=https://www.aaa.si.edu/download_pdf_transcript/ajax?record_id=edanmdm-AAADCD_oh_274524 |title=Oral history interview with David Best, 2007 October 23-December 6 |subject=David Best |interviewer=Mija Riedel |publisher=Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution |access-date=14 September 2021}}</ref>{{rp|68}} Maggie and David have two children together. David has two children from a previous marriage.
==Career== In 1962, Roth and his mother purchased [[Ghirardelli Square]] in fear that it would be torn down and replaced with condominiums.<ref>Burt A. Folkart, [https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-09-06-mn-23668-story.html Matson Line Heiress Roth Dies After 95th Birthday : Philanthropist Lurline Roth Dies at Age 95], ''[[The Los Angeles Times]]'', September 06, 1985</ref> They hired a landscape architectural firm to convert the factory with its historic brick structure into a retail complex. It was considered to be the first major adaptive re-use project in the United States. Ghirardelli Square was later listed on the National Register of Historical Places to preserve for future generations.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.historysmc.org/main.php?page=hmroth |title=San Mateo County History Museum, The Roth Family |publisher=Historysmc.org |date= |accessdate=2013-09-28}}</ref>
In 1966, he was targeted along with [[Clark Kerr]] and [[Elinor Raas Heller]] by a fellow Regent, [[Edwin Pauley]], for his alleged "[[Ultraliberalism#Social liberalism|ultra-liberal]]" views.<ref>[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2002/06/09/MNCF2.DTL ] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060514224035/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fchronicle%2Farchive%2F2002%2F06%2F09%2FMNCF2.DTL |date=May 14, 2006 }}</ref> [[Ronald Reagan]] made the [[Free Speech Movement]] and [[Opposition to the Vietnam War]] on the [[University of California, Berkeley|Berkeley]] campus one of his major campaign issues.
At the first [[Regents of the University of California|Regents]]' meeting after [[Ronald Reagan|Reagan]]'s election, [[Clark Kerr|Kerr]] was fired, with all the governor's new appointees voting for termination.<ref>{{cite web|author=Seth Rosenfeld |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/06/09/MNCF3.DTL |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020808071652/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/06/09/MNCF3.DTL |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 8, 2002 |title=The governor's race |publisher=SFGate |date=2002-06-09 |accessdate=2013-09-28}}</ref> Roth remained a member of the Regents' Board for many years, and was deliberately late for Reagan's last meeting in 1974, to avoid voting on a resolution of approval for the outgoing governor.<ref name="sfgate1">{{cite web|author=John King |url=http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/William-Matson-Roth-prominent-Bay-Area-5517937.php |title=William Matson Roth, prominent Bay Area businessman, dies |publisher=SFGate |date=2014-05-30 |accessdate=2014-06-05}}</ref>
President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] appointed him to be the [[Office of the United States Trade Representative|Trade Representative]], following the death of [[Christian Herter|Christian A. Herter]] the previous year.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ustr.gov/about-us/history/list-past-ustrs |title=Office of the United States Trade Representative - List of Past USTRS |publisher=Ustr.gov |date= |accessdate=2013-09-28}}</ref>
Among other activities, Roth worked as special representative for trade on US-European trade talks (named the [[Kennedy Round]] negotiations). See photo of Roth at a 1967, U.S. Chamber of Commerce conference alongside US [[Secretary of Commerce]] [[Alexander B. Trowbridge]]; [[Secretary of Agriculture]] [[Orville Freeman]], and Under Secretary of Labor [[James J. Reynolds]].
In 1974, Roth, a long-time contributor to the Democratic Party, ran for Governor of California in the Democratic Primary election. He placed fourth (receiving 10% of the vote) in a crowded field of candidates that included San Francisco Mayor [[Joseph Alioto]], Speaker of the Assembly [[Bob Moretti]], Congressman [[Jerome Waldie]], and the winner, Secretary of State [[Jerry Brown]], who had the advantage of name recognition, his father [[Pat Brown]] having been Governor eight years before.
Roth had a summer home on [[Sonoma Mountain]] with substantial area, having purchased the holding around 1950; the Roth family gave this property to the [[Nature Conservancy]], who transformed it into a [[nature preserve]], presently known as the [[Fairfield Osborn Preserve]].
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{s-start}} {{s-off}} {{s-bef|before=[[Christian Herter]]}} {{s-ttl|title=[[Office of the United States Trade Representative|United States Trade Representative]]|years=1967–1969}} {{s-aft|after=[[Carl J. Gilbert|Carl Gilbert]]}} {{s-end}}
{{USTR}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roth, William M.}} [[Category:1916 births]] [[Category:2014 deaths]] [[Category:American conservationists]] [[Category:American businesspeople in transportation]] [[Category:University of California regents]] [[Category:United States trade representatives]]