Quick Facts
Biography
Theodore E. Cummings (1907–March 30, 1982, Los Angeles, California) was a non-career appointee who served as the American Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Austria until his death on March 30, 1982.
A long time friend of Ronald Reagan, Cummings was considered a member of his Kitchen Cabinet. He had known Reagan for a long time before he became president. Cummings had served in Reagan's Governor administration as commissioner, California Commission on Judicial Qualification, California Hospital Commissioner and was a member of the Commission on Health Services Industry of the Cost of Living Council.
Biography
Cummings was a native of Austria. He was a resident of Beverly Hills, California at the time of his death from cancer at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. He was Chairman of Cedars-Sinai from 1954 until his appointment as Ambassador. Prior to that, he opened the first Food Giant supermarket, in 1944, in Long Beach and then went on to develop a string of stores called . He went on to build a string of stores Builders Emporiums. He sold his holdings in 1968 for $52.5 million to Vornado Inc., of Garfield, New Jersey.