Laurence W. Lane, Jr.

Lawrence W. Lane, Jr. arrived in Australia to assume his duties as American Ambassador on December 30, 1985 and presented his credentials to the Governor General on January 7, 1986. Ambassador Lane had been nominated by President Reagan in October 1985 and won U.S. Senate approval in December.

Since 1946 Mr. Lane has been with Lane Publishing Company in Menlo Park, California, serving in various positions including marketing representative, salesman, editorial assistant, sales manager, vice president, president and chairman of the board. He is also publisher of Sunset Magazine.

Since 1965 he has been a member of the advisory board for Liberty Mutual Insurance Company of North California; since 1967 a member of the board of directors of California Water Service Company in San Jose; since 1971 a member of the board of directors of Crown Zellerback Corporation in San Francisco, and since 1980 a member of the board of directors of Pacific Gas and Electric Company in San Francisco.

Mr. Lane's government service has included chairmanship of the Water Panel, Governor's "California Changing Environment," in 1969; chairmanship of the President's Commission for National Parks Centennial, in 1972; service as a member of the 1973-1974 President's National Advisory Committee on Oceans and Atmosphere, from 1974 to 1985; as Ambassador/Commissioner General of the U.S. exhibition at the International Ocean Exposition in Okinawa, Japan, in 1975; as chairman of the Pacific Area Travel Association, USTS/Commerce, from 1976-1981, and as a member of the national Productivity Advisory Committee, 1981-1983. He also has been mayor and councilman in the town council of Portola Valley, California.

Mr. Lane graduated from Stanford University in 1942, with a Bachelor of Arts degree. He served in the United States Navy from 1942 to 1946. His foreign language is Spanish.

He is married to the former Donna Jean Gimbel and has three children. He was born November 7, 1919 in Des Moines, Iowa, and currently resides in Portola Valley, Californnia.