J. Burke Knapp
(Oregon and St. John's '33)J. Burke Knapp, born in 1913, passed away in Palo Alto, California on November 22, 2009, after a highly distinguished career in international finance. He was especially known for his 22-year service (1956-1978) as the Senior Vice President and Chairman of the Loan Committee of the World Bank.
Mr. Knapp was born and raised in Portland, Oregon. He went to Stanford University where he graduated in 1933. He was awarded Phi Beta Kappa and was captain of the water polo team. He then received a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University which he attended from 1933 to 1936. After four years of apprenticeship in London in international banking, he returned to the United States in 1939 to become employed as an economist by the Federal Reserve Board in Washington, D.C.
Mr. Knapp served in the U.S. Government until 1952, alternating between senior positions in the Federal Reserve Board and the Department of State, with a year off to work with the U.S. Military Government in Germany. He attended the Bretton Woods Conference in 1944, was a member of the Inter-Departmental Committee to prepare the Marshall Plan, became the Economic Adviser to the first U.S. Delegation to NATO in 1950-51, and was then appointed by the President as the U.S. Chairman of the U.S.-Brazil Joint Commission for Economic Development.
In December 1952, Mr. Knapp joined the World Bank as the Director of its Latin American operations, and in 1956 was appointed as Senior Vice-President and Chairman of the World Bank’s Loan Committee responsible for processing the Bank’s lending activities worldwide. He remained in this position until he retired in 1978 at age 65.
He was among the founders of Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., now one of the leading repertory theaters in America, and was the chairman of its board for many years.
In 1939 Mr. Knapp married Hilary Eaves of London, England (deceased) and in 1976 Iris Hay-Edie of Port Antonio, Jamaica, (now also deceased). He is survived by four children - Louis, Rosalind, Elise, and Michael, as well as two grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
Memorial services will be held at the Stanford University Memorial Church at 3:00 P.M. on December 17 and at the St. John’s Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C. in January (date to be announced).
San Francisco Chronicle
Robert McNamara Statement - 1978
1818 Society Introductory Remarks 2003