Ludwell Ebersole Gaines Jr. died peacefully in San Francisco on March 15, 2012. He was known fondly as "Eb" by his wide circle of friends and associates in his government and business careers.
He was born April 21, 1927, in West Virginia, educated at the Lawrenceville School and graduated from Princeton University in 1951. He served in the Navy aboard LST 636 between 1944-1946. In his business career, he worked with the American Arbitration Association, Plax Corp. and Continental Can Co. In 1981, Eb was appointed by President Reagan as executive vice president of Overseas Private Investment Corp., an agency of the State Department, and later was appointed by President George H.W. Bush to be American consul general to Bermuda, where he served from 1989 until 1992.
In 1956, he married Sheila Kellogg of Libertyville, Ill., and they raised four children while living in New Jersey, Connecticut, Ohio, Illinois and Ketchum, Idaho, before moving to Washington, D.C. Sheila predeceased him in November 1995. Their children, Eb III, Leith, Kelly and Audrey, their respective spouses and three grandchildren, Riley, Chilton and Simmons, survive him, as does his longtime close friend Ann Caen.
Eb greatly valued friends and good times. He was a low-handicap golfer and belonged to many golf clubs and social organizations, including Cypress Point, Seminole, Rolling Rock, Mid-Ocean and Chevy Chase golf clubs, the Bohemian Club in San Francisco and The Links in New York City. He was a member of the Idaho Republican Party and the Idaho Parks Foundation, and was the founding chair of the board of trustees of the Ketchum-Sun Valley Community School. He was an acknowledged raconteur, bon vivant and accomplished entertainer with his guitar medleys and his much-appreciated Dancing Man musical act. His friends valued and returned his loyalty and constant good cheer.
