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“Bill will be very fondly remembered at ICC as both a professional and a gentleman of the utmost integrity who commanded respect from all who met him,” said ICC Secretary General Jean-Guy Carrier. “His knowledge of the UN was encyclopedic , to such an extent that he was frequently consulted by top UN officials.”
A graduate of Columbia University and a U.S. Army veteran of World War II, Stibravy had a distinguished 40-year career in the U.S. State Department, including several postings in Europe and Japan, before joining ICC.
While with ICC, Stibravy worked out of USCIB’s New York headquarters, and a great number of USCIB members and staff came to know him well, valuing his wise advise and appreciating his imperturbable good spirits.
“Bill pursued his work with a commitment and dedication that set an example for all of us,” said USCIB President and CEO Peter M. Robinson, who was a young policy manager at USCIB when they first met. “His wealth of knowledge, skills, and contacts made it an incredible privilege and joy to work with him over the years. But we were also grateful recipients of his thoughtfulness, friendship, kindness, support and humble approach.”
Changing attitudes at the UN
According to Robinson, much of the credit for the UN’s more pro-business stance in recent years could be attributed to Stibravy’s efforts. “Today, business spends a lot more of its time working in cooperation and interchange with the UN,” he said, “I believe that Bill, a dean of diplomacy, was an instrumental honest broker in nurturing that partnership.”
Martin Wassell, who headed ICC’s policy department for many years, echoed this point: “A courteous, cultured, cosmopolitan citizen of the world with well-honed diplomatic skills, Bill Stibravy was the ideal person to head up ICC’s work in the UN during the 1990s and early 2000s, when that institution belatedly opened its eyes to see business as a partner of government, rather than an adversary, in the pursuit of global prosperity and peace – a cause to which Bill devoted his entire life.”
Some of Stibravy’s anecdotes and memories of a lifetime in international affairs were included in a 2005 portrait on this website marking his 25th anniversary as ICC’s UN representative.
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