Trowbridge was born on December 12, 1929 in Englewood, New Jersey. He was the son of American University Professor of Russian History, Alexander Buel Trowbridge, Junior., and the grandson of the Alexander Buel Trowbridge, Senior, the former dean of the Cornell University College of the Architecture (1897-1902).
Graduate, Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts, 1947; AB cum laude, Princeton University, 1951; Doctor of Laws (honorary), D'Youville College, 1967; Doctor of Laws (honorary), Hofstra U., 1968; Doctor of Laws (honorary), Hobart College, William Smith College, 1975.
He was the United States Secretary of Commerce from June 14, 1967 to March 1, 1968, in the administration of President Lyndon B. Johnson. His mother, the former Julie Chamberlain, who was the executive director of the Woodrow Wilson Foundation from 1942 to 1961. Trowbridge"s parents divorced, and he was raised by his mother.
As a young man, Trowbridge attended Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, in 1947, before graduating from Princeton University in 1951.
After World World War II, he worked with various reconstruction efforts. After working with the International Intern Program of the United Nations in Lake Success, New York, he served in the Korean War in the Marine Corps.
Between 1954 and 1965, he was an oil businessman. In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed him to serve as the Assistant Secretary of Commerce.
On January 19, 1967, he became acting Secretary of Commerce, and in June of that year he became United States. Secretary of Commerce, a position he served in until March 1, 1968.
He resigned to return to business, serving first as the President of the American Management Association before the joining Allied Chemical as a Vice-Chairman of the Morristown, New Jersey-based parent company and the Chairman of their Canadian subsidiary, Allied Chemical Canada Limited. of Pointe-Claire (Queen's Counsel). He later served as head of the National Association of Manufacturers from 1980 until 1989. As Secretary of Commerce, he proposed to re-merge of the Department of Commerce and the Department of Labor.
Trowbridge died in Washington, District of Columbia on April 27, 2006, at the aged of 76, after the suffering from a Lewy body dementia and the illness.
He is buried at the Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia.
Member President's Task Force on Private Sector Initiatives, National Commision on Social Security Reform, 1982. Member National Commision on Executive, Legislation and Judicial Salaries, 1985, National Commision on Public Superior vena cava syndrome. Member Competitiveness Policy Council, 1991.
With United States Marine Corps Reserve, 1951-1953, major Reserve. Member Council Foreign Rels., Metropolitan Club, Georgetown Club, University Club.
Married Eleanor Hutzler, April 18, 1981. Children by previous marriage: Stephen C., Corrin S., Kimberly.
