At the time of his death in 2021, Walter F. Mondale served as chairman of the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation’s International Advisory Board. He was also senior counsel at Dorsey & Whitney, LLP, in the firm’s Asia practice group.
A native of Minnesota, he served as Minnesota state attorney general from 1960-1964, and represented Minnesota in the United States Senate from 1964-1976. In 1976, as Jimmy Carter’s running mate, Mr. Mondale was elected vice president of the United States. Mr. Mondale was the Democratic nominee for President in 1984. He also served as chairman of the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, an organization that conducts international programs to maintain and strengthen democratic institutions. From 1993-1996, Mr. Mondale served as United States ambassador to Japan in the Clinton Administration.
He joined the Mansfield Foundation’s Board of Directors in 2004, and was chairman from 2008-2014, at which point he became the inaugural chair of the International Advisory Board. In addition to service on the board of the Mansfield Foundation, he served on the boards of the Guthrie Theatre Foundation, Mayo Foundation and University of Minnesota Foundation. He also sat on several corporate boards of directors.
Mr. Mondale earned his BA in political science from the University of Minnesota. After completing service as a corporal in the U.S. Army, Mr. Mondale received his LLB (cum laude) from the University of Minnesota Law School, having served on the Law Review and as law clerk at the Minnesota Supreme Court. In November 2008, the government of Japan conferred upon Mr. Mondale the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Paulownia Flowers, one of Japan’s highest honors.