Background
John Tuthill was born on November 10, 1910 in Montclair, New Jersey, United States, in the family of Oliver Bailey and Louise Jerolomen (Wills) Tuthill.
banker Diplomat educator author
John Tuthill was born on November 10, 1910 in Montclair, New Jersey, United States, in the family of Oliver Bailey and Louise Jerolomen (Wills) Tuthill.
John graduated from the College of William and Mary class of 1932, received graduate degrees from New York University master’s in business administration and master's degree in economics from Harvard.
At the beginning of his career, Tuthill held several banking positions, initially with the First National Bank in Paterson, New Jersey, then at Bankers Trust Company in New York City. From 1937 until 1940 he taught at Northeastern University. Then he began a lengthy term with the U.S. Department of State. His work with the State Department included stints as vice-consul in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, and Mazatlan, Mexico, secretary in the U.S. political adviser’s office in Shaef, special assistant to the U.S. ambassador in London, England, and several directorships in the Office of Economic Affairs in Bonn, West Germany. In 1961 he became ambassador to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. He then served as ambassador to the European Economic Community and later to Brazil. He returned to teaching in 1969 as professor of international politics at Johns Hopkins University’s Bologna Center in Italy. That same year he became director-general of the Atlantic Institute for International Affairs in Paris, France, until 1976; he continued his association with the Institute until 1986. From 1977 until 1985 he served as president of the Salzburg Seminar in American Studies in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and from 1978 until 1980 he was a visiting fellow at the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation at Princeton. He rounded out his career as executive director and trustee of the American-Austrian Foundation from 1985 until 1988. Tuthill wrote "The Decisive Years Ahead" and a book of memoirs called "Some Things to Some Men: Serving in the Foreign Service."
On July 3, 1937, John married Erna Lueders, with whom he had two children: Carol Anne and David Tuthill.