Paul O'Neill awarded medal for public service by President Ford foundation

Former Treasurer Secretary Paul H. O’Neill is the 2019 recipient of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation’s Medal for Distinguished Public Service.

O’Neill, 83, of Pittsburgh, was awarded the medal because of his “demonstrated personal and professional qualities,” according to President Ford’s son Mike, who serves as chairman of the foundation.

“Dad always had the highest regard for Secretary O’Neill and his ability to keep our nation’s finances in check while serving as deputy director for the Office of Management and Budget, and later as secretary of the Treasury,” Mike Ford said in a news release.

O’Neill served in the Treasury Department under President George W. Bush, but his public service career dates back to the Kennedy administration, when he was a computer systems analyst for the U.S. Veterans Administration and later the deputy director of the Office and Management and Budget.

In the private sector, O’Neill was the chairman and CEO of Alcoa and chairman of the Rand Corp.

In the aftermath of 9/11, O’Neill was instrumental in setting up a task force within the Treasury Department to combat terrorist financing that ultimately led to the creation of the Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.

“During his many years of government service, Secretary O’Neill exhibited the very qualities we deeply admire with respect to President Ford,” Carla Hills, a former ambassador and secretary of Housing and Urban Development who chairs the Ford Foundation’s awards committee. “He devoted much of his life to serving the American people through public service positions and was dedicated to making a difference while he served.”