Cortlandt V . R . Schuyler Cortlandt Van Rensselaer Schuyler ( December 22 , 1900 – December 4 , 1993 ) was a United States Army four - star general who served as Chief of Staff , Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe ( COFS SHAPE ) from 1953 to 1959 . Military career . Schuyler was born in Mount Arlington , New Jersey on December 22 , 1900 . He attended Columbia High School in Maplewood , New Jersey . He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1922 and was commissioned in the Coast Artillery Corps . His first assignment was at Fort Monroe , Virginia , where he was assigned to the 61st Antiaircraft Battalion , at the time the only anti - aircraft unit in the army . Later he served with the 60th Coast Artillery ( antiaircraft ) in the Philippines and the 4th Coast Artillery ( Antiaircraft ) at Fort Amador in the Panama Canal Zone . In 1939 , while a member of the Antiaircraft section of the Coast Artillery Board , he participated actively in the development of the first multiple , power - operated antiaircraft machine gun mount . ( Quadmount ) , He was awarded the Legion of Merit for his work in this field . In 1942 Schuyler was assigned to the Antiaircraft Command in Richmond , Virginia in 1942 . He was promoted to brigadier general and assigned as chief of staff of the Antiaircraft Command . The Antiaircraft Command had the task of organizing and training all antiaircraft units of a rapidly expanding Army and controlled eight large training centers from Massachusetts to California . In the fall of 1944 , General Schuyler was assigned to Bucharest , Romania , as the U . S . Military Representative to the Allied Control Commission . The agency was created by the three interested allied governments ( British , U . S . and Russian ) to administer the terms of the Romanian armistice . General Schuyler returned to Washington in 1947 and was assigned as the Chief of the Plans and Policy Group , Army General Staff . It was in this position that he became heavily involved in the fast developing concept of the North Atlantic Alliance . He assisted in the preparation of policy papers and participated in the discussions which , in 1949 , culminated in the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization ( NATO ) . When General of the Army Dwight D . Eisenhower was appointed as the Supreme Commander of all NATO forces in Europe , General Schuyler was part of Eisenhower ' s staff as the special assistant to the chief of staff . Schuyler was promoted to major general in 1952 and given command of the 28th Infantry Division in 1953 . In 1954 he was promoted to lieutenant general and assigned to SHAPE headquarters in Paris as the Chief of Staff to Supreme Allied Commander General Alfred M . Gruenther . Schuyler was promoted to general in 1956 and remained as the chief of staff for the new Supreme Commander , General Lauris Norstad , until his retirement from the Army in November 1959 . Post military career . After retiring from the army in 1959 , Schuyler served as Commissioner of the New York State Office of General Services from 1960 to 1971 . Schuyler died on December 4 , 1993 in San Antonio , Texas . He was survived by his wife , two children , and two stepchildren . See also . http : / / www . findagrave . com / cgi - bin / fg . cgi ? page = gr & GRid = 59752025