He was the grandson and heir to the fortune of the founder of Hormel Foods. He was the first openly gay US ambassador, nominated as Ambassador to Luxembourg in 1997 by then-President Bill Clinton. When his appointment met with opposition and was blocked by conservative Senate Republicans for two years, President Clinton used executive privilege to appoint him during the Congressional recess. He was Ambassador from 1999 through 2000. He was a staunch supporter of HIV/AIDS organizations and human rights, especially for the LGBTQ community, having been a co-founder of the Human Rights Campaign, He was a philanthropist who helped fund many activities geared to arts, education and human rights, including a gay and lesbian center at the San Francisco Public Library; the National AIDS Memorial Grove; the American Foundation for AIDS Research; and the American Conservatory Theater. He was married to a woman he met while attending Swarthmore College and together they had five children. They divorced in 1965 and two years later, he came out as a gay man. He married his current husband in 2014 and is survived by him; his five children; 14 grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren.
He was the grandson and heir to the fortune of the founder of Hormel Foods. He was the first openly gay US ambassador, nominated as Ambassador to Luxembourg in 1997 by then-President Bill Clinton. When his appointment met with opposition and was blocked by conservative Senate Republicans for two years, President Clinton used executive privilege to appoint him during the Congressional recess. He was Ambassador from 1999 through 2000. He was a staunch supporter of HIV/AIDS organizations and human rights, especially for the LGBTQ community, having been a co-founder of the Human Rights Campaign, He was a philanthropist who helped fund many activities geared to arts, education and human rights, including a gay and lesbian center at the San Francisco Public Library; the National AIDS Memorial Grove; the American Foundation for AIDS Research; and the American Conservatory Theater. He was married to a woman he met while attending Swarthmore College and together they had five children. They divorced in 1965 and two years later, he came out as a gay man. He married his current husband in 2014 and is survived by him; his five children; 14 grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren.
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