Paul Fay | |
|---|---|
 Paul B Fay, aboardUSS PTF-3 | |
| United States Secretary of the Navy (Acting) | |
| In office November 1, 1963 – November 28, 1963 | |
| President | John F. Kennedy |
| Preceded by | Fred Korth |
| Succeeded by | Paul Nitze |
| Undersecretary of the Navy | |
| In office February 24, 1961[1] – January 15, 1965[2] | |
| President | John F. Kennedy Lyndon B. Johnson |
| Preceded by | Fred A. Bantz |
| Succeeded by | Kenneth E. BeLieu |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Paul Burgess Fay Jr. (1918-07-08)July 8, 1918 |
| Died | September 23, 2009(2009-09-23) (aged 91) |
| Spouse | Anita Fay |
| Children | 3 |
Paul Burgess Fay Jr. (July 8, 1918 – September 23, 2009) was the ActingUnited States Secretary of the Navy in November 1963, and a close confidant of PresidentJohn F. Kennedy.
Paul B. Fay Jr was born on July 8, 1918, in San Francisco, California.Fay Jr attendedThe Thacher School inOjai,California,[3] and laterStanford University. After graduating from Stanford in 1941, Fay worked for his father's construction firm, Fay Improvement Co,[3] a Bay-area paving contractor, and enlisted in theU.S. Navy after the bombing ofPearl Harbor in December 1941.
Fay attendedOfficer Candidate School and was assigned toPT boat training atMelville, Rhode Island,[3] whereJohn F. Kennedy was his instructor. They were assigned to the same base in the South Pacific, though they were not on the same boat. Fay received a Bronze Star during his war service as second in command ofPT 167 during which the boat was disabled by a torpedo that was dropped by a Japanese plane, piercing the hull below the water line but failing to explode.[4]
After his war service, Fay returned to the United States and rejoined his father's company. On October 5, 1946, he married Anita Marcus ofMill Valley, California. They had 3 children: Katherine Fay, Paul Fay III, and Sally Fay Cottingham.[5]
Paul Fay and Kennedy became close friends, and Fay worked on Kennedy's early campaigns for theU.S. House of Representatives and theU.S. Senate, and also onhis campaign for U.S. President. Paul Fay was an usher atJFK's wedding.[6]
On Kennedy's election as president, Fay was nominated and served asUndersecretary of the Navy over the objections of Defense SecretaryRobert McNamara[4] and then as ActingSecretary of the Navy in November 1963 while Kennedy wasU.S. President. He resigned effective November 28, 1963, followingKennedy's assassination on November 22, 1963; however he remained undersecretary of the Navy until 1965.[6]
In 1966, he wrote the best-sellerThe Pleasure of His Company about Kennedy.
The Fay Improvement Company was sold in 1967 and Fay founded William Hutchinson & Co, an investment research firm. He was a director of Vestaur Securities and First American Financial, and was a Trustee of theNaval War College Foundation and of Mount St. Joseph-St. Elizabeth of San Francisco.[3]
After suffering fromAlzheimer's disease for many years, Paul Burgess Fay Jr died at his home inWoodside, California on September 23, 2009.[3] He and his wife Anita Fay had three children: Paul Fay III, Katherine Fay, and Sally Fay Cottingham.[6][7]
| Government offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Under Secretary of the Navy February 16, 1961 – January 15, 1965 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | United States Secretary of the Navy (acting) November 2, 1963 – November 28, 1963 | Succeeded by |
