After graduating from college, Verity tramped around the world and worked as maître d' at an upscale Manhattan restaurant. He also served in the
United States Navy from 1942 to 1945. Verity worked for most of his career at
Armco Steel, a corporation founded by his grandfather,
George Matthew Verity. He started there in 1940 and retired from Armco in 1982.
Secretary of Commerce Verity (center) to being sworn into office with the wife, Peggy W. Verity (left), to holder book, and the
U.S. President Ronald Reagan (far right). Between 1980 and 1981, Verity chaired the
United States Chamber of Commerce. In 1981, he chaired Reagan's bipartisan task force on Private Sector Initiatives (PSI). In 1983, he was appointed a member of PSI's Advisory Council and later served on PSI's Board of Advisors. Between 1979 and 1984, he co-chaired the
U.S.-U.S.S.R. Trade Economic Council, a private sector council of American and Soviet businessmen. During Verity's time at the
U.S. Department of Commerce, he established the Commerce Hall of Fame in 1988 to honor good department employees. In 1988, he also created the
Office of Space Commerce to support the
National Space Council. That office was an early version of the
Office of Space Commercialization, an office created to promote the effective commercial use of
outer space. According to
Jonathan Chait of
The New Republic, Verity kept a passage from
Ayn Rand's novel
Atlas Shrugged on his desk, including the line "How well you do your work . . . [is] the only measure of human value." == Personal life ==