Dates

• Existence: 1923

Biography

Gerald “Gerry” Wendell Frank was born in Portland, Oregon, in 1923. He attended Stanford University, where he enrolled in the Reserve Officer Training Program. He was called to active duty in the U.S. Army in 1943, and served in the European theater during World War II. During his Army training in California, he studied engineering at Loyola University. After his discharge in 1945, he remained in England and attended Cambridge University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in economics and a master's degree in politics. After graduating, he returned to Portland and worked at the family business, the Meier & Frank department store. He opened and managed the Meier & Frank store in Salem, Oregon in 1955. After the sale of Meier & Frank in 1965, Frank became involved with Mark Hatfield’s political career, eventually becoming the senator’s chief of staff. In 1981, he opened a dessert shop in Salem called Gerry Frank’s Konditorei. He was a longtime contributor to the Oregonian newspaper and also authored a guidebook to Oregon, entitled Gerry Frank’s Oregon.

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