BETHESDA, MD, December 04, 2018 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Marquis Who's Who, the world's premier publisher of biographical profiles, is proud to present Ambassador Donald T. Bliss (ret.) with the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award. Ambassador Bliss celebrates many years' experience as a diplomat, public servant, attorney, writer and teacher, and is noted for his achievements, leadership qualities, and successful accomplishments. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.
After unanimous confirmation by the US Senate, Mr. Bliss served from 2006 to 2009 as US Ambassador to the International Civil Aviation Organization [ICAO] and Permanent Representative on the ICAO Council in Montreal where he provided leadership in strengthening aviation safety, security and environmental standards in international aviation. ICAO is a specialized agency of the United Nations regulating international aviation.
Mr. Bliss arrived in Washington, D.C. in 1969 and was appointed the first Executive Secretary to the US Department of Health, Education and Welfare [HEW] by the Honorable Elliot L. Richardson where he served from 1969 to 1973. For his work in improving the management of the decision-making process in what was then the largest federal department, he received a presidential management improvement citation and two Special Citations by HEW Secretaries Richardson and Caspar Weinberger.
In 1973-74, Mr. Bliss served as a Special Assistant to the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and then Executive Secretary of the US Agency for International Development. From 1975 to 1977, he was Acting General Counsel of the US Department of Transportation under the Honorable William T. Coleman, Jr., where he worked on airline deregulation; federal aircraft noise policy, highway and mass transit development, and US Coast Guard antipollution activities, among other issues. He was a strong advocate for automobile safety standards and consumer participation in rulemaking proceedings and was a recipient of the Department's Superior Achievement Award.
He served briefly in the Carter administration and then joined the Washington, D.C. office of the O'Melveny law firm, where he chaired the firm's transportation practice. During his thirty years at O'Melveny, he represented, at various times, most major airlines, Ford and General Motors, Citibank, JP Morgan, Cigna, IBM, and the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, among other clients. He argued cases successfully in the appellate courts and the Supreme Court of the United States. From 1995 to 2005, he was a Special Master appointed by the federal district court in Los Angeles overseeing a consent decree requiring Los Angeles to fix its deteriorating bus system. After he directed the transit authority to purchase 2,000 new natural gas buses, Los Angeles went from one of the worst to one of the best and cleanest bus systems in the world.
Mr. Bliss earned a Bachelor of Arts with highest honors from Principia College in 1963, and obtained a Juris Doctor degree cum laude from Harvard University in 1966. Upon graduating from law school, he was a Peace Corps Volunteer lawyer and counsel to the Congress of Micronesia. He briefly practiced law on Wall Street before moving to Washington, D.C. to accept an appointment at HEW. He was admitted to the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (Micronesian) Bar in 1966, the New York State Bar in 1969, and the District of Colombia Bar in 1970 and is admitted to practice in several U.S. District Courts, U.S. Courts of Appeals and the Supreme Court of the United States. He is currently the chairman and chief executive officer of Hale & Northam LLC, which handles his consulting and publishing activities.
Mr. Bliss is the author or co-author of four books: co-author. Trust Territory Reporter vols. I-IV, Equity, 1969; The Law of Airline-Customer Relations, Hale & Northam, 2002; co-author, Counsel for the Situation: Shaping the Law to Realize America's Promise, Brookings Institute Press, 2010; Mark Twain's Tale of Today, CreateSpace, 2012, sec ed. 2017; Evan: A Father's Tribute to His Son, Lulu, 2018. He also has authored dozens of articles on aviation, health care, the United Nations, Supreme Court decisions, Micronesian law, and Mark Twain.
Ambassador Bliss served as president of the United Nations Association of the National Capital Area (2013-2017), president of the Ripon Society, a moderate Republican think tank (1990-1992), and Chair of the American Bar Association's Air and Space Law Forum (1999-2001). He was chair of the Federal Bar Association's Transportation Law Section (1988-1990) and co-chair of the Administrative Law and Agency Practice Section of the District of Columbia Bar (1988-1989. He served as a Trustee of the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, and he has been a Director of the Council of American Ambassadors (2016-2018). He served on the Board of Trustees of the Studio Theatre (1997-2014) and was a Principal of the Council on Excellence (1988-2005). He has served on the Board of Arts for the Aging, Inc. since 1990 and has been its past president and chair.
Mr. Bliss was a member of the Department of Transportation's Maritime Advisory Committee (1984-1985) and the president of the Harvard Law School Association of Washington, DC (1985-1986). In light of his exceptional undertakings, Mr. Bliss has been honored in such publications as Who's Who in America, Who's Who in American Law and Who's Who in American Politics.
In recognition of outstanding contributions to his profession and the Marquis Who's Who community, Mr. Bliss has been featured on the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement website. Please visit www.ltachievers.com for more information about this honor.
Since 1899, when A. N. Marquis printed the First Edition of Who's Who in America®, Marquis Who's Who® has chronicled the lives of the most accomplished individuals and innovators from every significant field of endeavor, including politics, business, medicine, law, education, art, religion and entertainment. Today, Who's Who in America® remains an essential biographical source for thousands of researchers, journalists, librarians and executive search firms around the world. Marquis® now publishes many Who's Who titles, including Who's Who in America®, Who's Who in the World®, Who's Who in American Law®, Who's Who in Medicine and Healthcare®, Who's Who in Science and Engineering®, and Who's Who in Asia®. Marquis® publications may be visited at the official Marquis Who's Who® website at www.marquiswhoswho.com.
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