Born in New York to a prominent family, Gerard attended Groton School and Trinity College, Cambridge.
After serving in the army, navy, and Marine Corps during World War II, he moved to Montana and became involved in business, including mining and ranching, and politics.
[1][4][5][2] During World War II, Gerard served in the United States Army, the Navy, and the Marine Corps.
[1][5][6] He started out as a buck private in the Army Air Corps, spent time as a parachutist, and ended his service four years later as an infantry captain of intelligence in the Marines.
[1][6] His service spanned such locations as the Middle East and North Africa, Washington, D.C., China, Burma, and California.
[6] After the war 1940s, Gerard became involved in his family's real estate business, the Aeon Realty Company, with interests in Manhattan, Long Island, and New Jersey.
[2][5] However, the ranch was never profitable, and Gerard received assistance from his father through monies and stocks in order to help him reduce with his significant debt.
[1][7][8][9] On December 17, 1959, Gerard announced his campaign for the Republican nomination for the United States Senate, and said: [I am] convinced that Montana must look and think ahead, or we will forfeit our potential.
I intend to file for nomination to the U.S. Senate with the hope that Montana will send new blood with a fresh outlook to Washington to best represent all Montanans.
[1][2][5] In 1970, he was named mission director for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in Tunisia, a position he held until 1974.
[1][2][12] On March 22, 1974, President Richard Nixon appointed him United States Ambassador to Jamaica, and he presented credentials on June 4, 1974.