Richard Stone (politician)

American politician and diplomat (1928–2019)

Richard Bernard Stone (September 22, 1928 – July 28, 2019) was an American politician who served as a Democratic United States Senator from Florida from 1975 to 1980 and later served as Ambassador at Large to Central America and Ambassador to Denmark.

Stone was born in New York City, the son of Lily (Abbey) and Alfred Stone, who was born in Belgium. His family was Jewish. He received a LL. B. from Columbia Law School in 1954, returned to Florida, was admitted to the Florida Bar in 1955, and began practicing law in Miami. In 1966, Stone became Miami City Attorney and was elected to the Florida Senate in 1967, representing Dade County.

In 1974, Stone ran in an 11 candidate Democratic primary election. Congressman Bill Gunter finished first but Stone won a close subsequent runoff, 51% to 49%. Outgoing Senator Gurney resigned on December 31, 1974, and Stone was officially appointed senator by Governor Reubin Askew on January 1, 1975, two days before his term was scheduled to begin. 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.

With a reputation for changing his mind and with the AFL–CIO actively campaigning against him, Stone was deemed vulnerable in his reelection bid. From 1981 to 1982, he was senior resident partner at the law firm of Proskauer, Rose, Goetz & Mendelsohn in Washington, D. C. worked as a paid lobbyist for the right wing Guatemalan government of Fernando Romeo Lucas García. He was also vice chairman of the board of Capital Bank of Washington. Stone was once a paid lobbyist for the conservative Guatemalan government of Fernando Romeo Lucas Garcia. This made Democrats argue that he was ill suited to be President Reagan's appointee to be Ambassador at Large for Central America, a role that required negotiation with the leftist government of El Salvador and other administrations. He resigned 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 of Washington, D. C. 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. 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.

Stone married the former Marlene Lois Singer on June 30, 1957 and they had three children and five grandchildren. Marlene Stone died on August 29, 2008. At the time of his death, he resided in the Chevy Chase neighborhood of Maryland.