1935
Born to Walter K. Guenther and Erna (Ahrenz) Guenther in Rochester, NY.
1957
Earns a Bachelor of Arts, cum laude, from the University of Rochester. Did graduate work at the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) of the Johns Hopkins University and at the Rangoon-Hopkins Center for Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Rangoon in 1957-1959 and was a Ph.D candidate at the Yale University Graduate School through early 1960.
1960
Is an economist with the U.S. Department of Commerce in Washington, D.C., through 1961.
1961
Is a U.S. Army Reserve recruit and completes Basic Training as well as serves part-time through 1966.
1962
Is an International Economist for the U.S. Department of Commerce in Washington, D.C., through 1965.
1964
Marries Lilly Hoesli, a Swiss-American. Their only married daughter is now Christine Ladd. Has two grandchildren: Alexandra and Steven Ladd.
1965
Serves as a Foreign Service Officer for the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C., and does so again from 1968 through 1969.
1966
Serves at the U.S. Embassy in Santiago, Chile, as a Foreign Service Officer through 1968.
1969
Is special assistant to Senator Jacob K. Javits (R-NY) of the U.S. Senate in Washington, D.C., through 1973, and meets Paul A.Volcker, then the US Treasury’s Under Secretary for Monetary Affairs.
1972 Lilly Guenther appointed FSO 7 by Dept. of Labor order which lapses in December 1979.. Senator Jacob K. Javits
is the ranking minority member of the Senate’s Labor and Public Welfare Committee.
1973
During his time as a Presidential appointee of President Richard M. Nixon on the Board of the Inter-American Development Bank as a U S Director watches the US support of the successful military coup against President Salvador Allende on September 11, 1973. Chilean President Allende dies in the coup as do some of his key
supporters.
1974
Is acting deputy special trade representative and head of office of the STR at the FORD White House through 1975 where he works for L. William Seidman, Counselor to President Ford. and future Chairman of the FDIC.
1974
Contributes to the passage of the Trade Act of 1974 under President Ford which gave future U.S. Presidents ‘fast track’ authorities and contains the Jackson-Vanik amendment facilitating the immigration of Jews from the Soviet Union and Eastern European countries..
1975
Is the assistant to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve Systems through 1979; receives the FED’S Special Achievement Award in 1977 and is the subject of a FED oral history released in 2019.
1979
Begins working for Independent Community Bankers of America in Washington, D.C., and holds multiple roles including President and CEO through his retirement in 2004.
1980
Receives a Presidential Pen from President Jimmy Carter for his work on the historic Depository Institutions Deregulations and Monetary Control Act of 1980 (DIDMCA) which deregulated U.S. interest rates while strengthening the
US’s central bank..
1980
DIDMCA was enacted in response to FED Chairman Paul A. Volcker’s raising interest rates to over 20%; actions which broke the back of the inflation ravaging the U.S. economy and causing the flight of member banks from the Federal Reserve.
1993
Is a member of the Board of Overseers with the Russian American Bankers Forum.
1995
Receives an Electronic Funds Transfer Achievement Award from the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
2003
Is the vice chairman and chairman of the Homeownership Alliance through 2004 and receives the organization’s Hero Award in 2004. Separately becomes Board member of NYSE exchange traded Certegy Inc. and Clarke Consulting Inc. Both were subsequently sold.
2019
Maintains SAIS-JHU connections through his ongoing membership in the Christian Herter Society (CHS).