Lawyer, government official in Kennedy and Johnson administrations, loyal Democrat. A warm, kind, gracious gentleman.
John joined the United States Navy on June 20, 1940 and served in World War II. He was retired as a Lieutenant Commander in August 1961.
His known achievements are as listed:
John Sterling Stillman, lawyer and politician, received his Harvard AB in 1940. After graduation, Stillman enrolled in law school at Yale University, but, having had an ensign's commission for the Harvard Naval R.O.T.C., received his Naval orders in June, 1941. Stillman spent a year in Washington, and then three years in the Pacific on the USS Montpelier, fighting to push the Japanese back from the New Hebrides to the China coast; he received ten battle stars and the Navy Unit Commendation. In 1946, he returned to studying law, this time at Columbia University; he graduated in June 1947, and passed the bar exam in New York the same year. Much of Stillman's career was divided between law, politics, and government: he was the Democratic County Chairman of Orange County, New York, from 1954-61, a member of the New York Bridge Authority from 1956-61, and 1976-89, as well as Chairman from 1957-60 and 1979-86, Deputy to Undersecretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce 1961-63, Deputy to Secretary of Congressional Relations 1963-65, and National Chairman of the American Veterans Committee in 1965 and 1966. When not holding office, Stillman returned to practicing law in New York, and by 1990, described himself as a "semi-retired attorney."