The Presidential Medal of Freedom, one of the highest civilian honors the United States government awards, was among the distinctions conferred on Walter Annenberg, a publisher, diplomat, and art collector whose life extended across nearly a century of American public life.

Annenberg was born on March 13, 1908, in Milwaukee. He was educated at the Peddie School and subsequently at the Wharton School. He went on to work as a publisher and businessperson, and he also served as an ambassador, bringing a diplomatic dimension to a career already rooted in commerce and media. His activities as an art collector earned him the National Medal of Arts, and his range of civic and cultural contributions drew recognition from institutions well beyond the United States.

That international recognition took several forms. Annenberg received the Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire and the Officer of the Legion of Honour, as well as the Knight of the Order of St. Gregory the Great. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Annenberg died on October 1, 2002, in Wynnewood, having accumulated, across the span of his life, honors in publishing, diplomacy, collecting, and civic affairs from governments and institutions on both sides of the Atlantic.