Born in
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Gotlieb studied at United College (now the
University of Winnipeg) for two years before transferring to the
University of California, Berkeley, where he received his BA. He received his MA from the
University of Oxford as a
Rhodes Scholar, and his
LLB degree from Harvard University, where he was editor of the
Harvard Law Review. In 1957, he joined the
Department of External Affairs. From 1967 to 1968, he was assistant undersecretary and led the legal division at External Affairs. He and his wife
Sondra Gotlieb were known for their parties attended by figures in Washington. Sondra's book
Washington Rollercoaster recounted the Gotliebs' years in Washington, when she also wrote a column for
The Washington Post. Sondra attracted publicity on March 19, 1986, when she slapped her social secretary at an official dinner she and her husband were hosting in honour of the Canadian prime minister
Brian Mulroney and US Vice-President George H. W. Bush. After Gotlieb and his wife returned to Canada in the early 1990s, they moved to Toronto. From 1989 to 1994, Gotlieb was chairman of the
Canada Council. He was also publisher of
Saturday Night magazine. In 1992, Gotlieb was the Canadian representative on the arbitration panel that decided the
Canada–France Maritime Boundary Case; Gotlieb dissented from the panel's decision in the case and wrote a dissent. Gotlieb was an honorary and former fellow of
Wadham College, Oxford, and was a visiting fellow at
All Souls College, Oxford.
Hollinger Inc. was among his corporate directorships. He was a member of the
Carlyle Group's Canadian advisory board and a member of the Trilateral Commission. He was also chairman of
Sotheby's Canada, former chairman of the
Ontario Heritage Foundation, and served as chairman of the board of governors of the
Donner Canadian Foundation, known for its annual literary prize. He was also a senior advisor in the law office of
Bennett Jones. Gotlieb was an art collector, notably of the work of 19th-century painter
James Tissot. He and his wife donated their Tissot collection to the
Art Gallery of Ontario. Gotlieb was a proponent of combining North American economic, defence, and security arrangements within a common perimeter and, in 2002, he advocated for a "grand bargain" with the US to create new trade rules and institutions. He argued "Wouldn't this 'legal integration' be superior to
ad hoc responses and largely ineffective lobbying to prevent harm from Congressional protectionist sorties?" Gotlieb published his diplomatic memoirs,
The Washington Diaries, in 2006. ==Personal life ==