Henry Kimelman, McGovern supporter, dies at 88

Henry Kimelman, 88, a chief fundraiser and supporter of Sen. George McGovern's in the South Dakota Democrat's bid for the presidency in 1972, died Nov. 9 of a heart ailment at his home in West Palm Beach, Fla.

Mr. Kimelman turned to politics after building a business career in the U.S. Virgin Islands. He was chief of staff for Interior Secretary Stewart Udall during the final year of the Johnson administration. During his time in Washington, he befriended McGovern.

While visiting Mr. Kimelman on St. Thomas in 1969, McGovern learned of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's accident on Chappaquiddick Island. A young female passenger in Kennedy's car died, and the Massachusetts senator's plans for a presidential campaign appeared to derail.

Mr. Kimelman encouraged McGovern to pursue the 1972 Democratic presidential nomination, although most of his staff members were trying to talk him out of it, McGovern said.

"He said: 'George, you're never going to know if you could be nominated president and elected president unless you try. I urge you to give it a try,' " McGovern told the Associated Press.

President Jimmy Carter named Mr. Kimelman ambassador to Haiti in 1980, during the regime of Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier. After Carter left office the next year, Mr. Kimelman became a founding member and officer of the Council of American Ambassadors, a Washington-based nonprofit group.

Mr. Kimelman was born Jan. 21, 1921, in Brooklyn, N.Y. He studied business administration at New York University, and he enlisted in the Navy after the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

Mr. Kimelman was a prominent businessman in the U.S. Virgin Islands. He helped his father-in-law, Sidney Kessler, run the Virgin Isle Hotel on St. Thomas after it opened in 1950. At the time, it was the largest hotel on St. Thomas.

One of Mr. Kimelman's marketing strategies was to give any guest a free room on nights when the temperature dropped below 70 degrees; the hotel never had to give away a free night. He became the islands' first commissioner of commerce in 1960.

His later years were focused on philanthropy in South Florida and in the Virgin Islands, including a cancer center, a community foundation and school projects, his son said.

Survivors include his wife, Charlotte, and three children.