Bruce Gelb

Bruce Stuart Gelb was an American businessman and diplomat. He served as the president of Clairol and vice chairman of Bristol-Myers Squibb.

Background

Gelb was born in New York City on February 24, 1927. His father, Lawrence M. Gelb, founded Clairol in 1931. Gelb graduated from Choate Rosemary Hall in 1945. Gelb was in the military and went on to receive a B.A. from Yale in 1950 and an M.B.A. from Harvard in 1953.
Gelb died on November 17, 2025, at the age of 98 in Naples, Florida.

Appointments

Director of the United States Information Agency from 1989 to 1991
Ambassador to Belgium from 1991 to 1993
Commissioner for the United Nations, Consular Corps and International Business from 1994 to 1997
Board of Trustees of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars 2003-2006

He was a Vice Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Madison Square Boys and Girls Club; a Life Trustee of Choate Rosemary Hall; a board member of the United Nations Development Corporation; a member of the Board of Trustees of the American Council on Science and Health; Honorary Chairman and a Regent of the Center for Security Policy; and a member of the Advisory Board of the USC Center on Public Diplomacy.