Ambassador John Langeloth Loeb, Jr., was one of the most important benefactors in the history of the Winston Churchill Foundation of the United States. He was elected to the Board in 1975 and soon replaced his father, John L. Loeb, Sr., as President of the Foundation. Following tradition, he became Chairman when he stepped down as President, and then Chairman Emeritus. In the 1980s, he organized a series of gala dinners, during which the Churchill Award was given to W. Averell Harriman, Margaret Thatcher, Ross Perot, President Ronald Reagan, and President George H.W. Bush. The last three of these awards were presented by then-Prince Charles, Prince Philip, and Queen Elizabeth II, respectively. Together, these events were crucial for the Foundation’s financial health.
In 1994 the Queen made Loeb an honorary Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in recognition of his contributions to strengthening Anglo-American relations in the field of science and technology.
A scion of the Loeb and Lehman Wall Street dynasties, Loeb was a public servant, financier, author, winemaker, philanthropist, patron of the arts, and a vigorous champion of the First Amendment.
Born on May 2, 1930, in Manhattan to John L. Loeb and Frances Lehman Loeb, he would later joke that he was born “with two silver spoons in my mouth.” He was among the last of New York City’s German-Jewish elite—“Our Crowd,” as described by historian Stephen Birmingham—and a grandnephew of New York Governor and U.S. Senator Herbert H. Lehman.
Loeb graduated cum laude from Harvard University in 1952, where he was a member of the Lampoon, and earned his MBA from Harvard Business School. He then served for two years as a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force. In 1957, he joined Loeb, Rhoades, the investment banking firm founded by his grandfather and father, where he spent seventeen of its most profitable years before entering public service and pursuing his own business ventures, including Sonoma-Loeb, a prize-winning winery.
Loeb turned to politics in the early seventies. New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller appointed him Chairman of the New York Council of Environmental Advisors, a position he held from 1970 to 1975.
While remaining pro-environment and pro-choice, he was drawn to Ronald Reagan’s fiscal conservatism, charisma, and strong support of Israel. Reagan appointed him U.S. Ambassador to Denmark, where he served from 1981 to 1983. During his tenure, Danish support for NATO reached unprecedented levels.
Queen Margrethe II awarded him the Grand Cross of the Order of the Dannebrog, a Danish order of chivalry equivalent to a knighthood, for extraordinary meritorious service to Denmark, making him the first American ambassador to receive that honor. A passionate collector, Loeb assembled the largest private collection of Danish art outside Denmark with 150 works of art. The Danish American Society named him “Man of the Year” in 2005 for his continued promotion of Danish art and his distinguished service. In May 2023, the American-Scandinavian Foundation honored him with its Cultural Award for his efforts to promote Danish art in the United States.
Loeb devoted the later decades of his life to combating anti-Semitism and advancing understanding of America’s foundational commitment to religious freedom. In 2009, he built the Ambassador John L. Loeb, Jr. Visitors Center at the Touro Synagogue National Historic Site in Newport, Rhode Island. The synagogue, the oldest Jewish house of worship in North America, stands as a testament to early American religious liberty.
The Center was inspired by George Washington’s 1790 letter to the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, stating that the United States “gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance.” To further this mission, in 2016, he endowed the Ambassador John L. Loeb, Jr. Institute for Religious Freedom and Democracy at George Washington University.
Loeb is survived by his wife, Sharon Handler Loeb, two children and five grandchildren.