Christopher James Makins was born at Southampton, New York on 23 July 1942, the son of a British father Roger Mellor Makins, later 1st Baron Sherfield and an American mother, Alice Brooks Davis, daughter of the American sportsman and politician Dwight F. Davis.
He was educated at Street Ronan"s School, Winchester College, and New College, Oxford.
Thus he held dual citizenship of the United Kingdom and the United States. In the United Kingdom he was known as "Lord Sherfield". In the United States, as "Mr.
Makins".
After taking a first-class degree in Modern History in 1963, he was elected a Fellow of All Souls (1963-1977). From 1964 until 1975, he served in H. M. Diplomatic Service. The family lived in Washington, District of Columbia, where he worked for the Trilateral Commission (Deputy Director 1975-1976), the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and the Aspen Institute (Executive Vice President 1989-1997) before becoming President of the Atlantic Council of the United States (1999-2005).
He was a Senior Adviser to the German Marshall Fund (1997-1999 and 2005-2006) and President of the Marshall Sherfield Foundation, which he had established in memory of his father.
He wrote or contributed to numerous articles and reports over the course of his career, including The Study of Europe in the United States: A Report to the German Marshall Fund of the United States and the Delegation of the European Commission to the United States (1998). He was also an art collector and active on the boards of arts organizations such as the Phillips Collection, Washington Concert Opera, and WETA. Death
He died from complications of head and neck cancer on 28 January 2006, aged 63, at his home in Georgetown, Washington, District of Columbia Legacy
Zbigniew Brzezinski.
Subsequent speakers have included former President of Latvia, Doctor Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga (2007). Doctor Henry Kissinger (2009).
And former Secretary General of North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Lord George Robertson (2010).
