elder statesman

elder statesman (plural elder statesmen)

1. A prominent and respected elderly political leader.
   • 1905 October 5, “A Review of the World”, in Current Literature, volume 39, number 4, page 364:

     Thus Ito, according to some interpreters of modern Japan, practically ceased to rank as an "elder statesman" when he consented to lead the political combination known as the Sei-yu-kai.

   • 1958, T. S. Eliot, The Elder Statesman‎:

     Mrs. Carghill. At bottom, I believe you're still the same silly Richard / You always were. You wanted to pose / As a man of the world. And now you're posing / As what? I presume, as an elder statesman; / And the difference between being an elder statesman / And posing successfully as an elder statesman / Is practically neglible. / And you look the part.

   • 2012, David Torrance, David Steel: Rising Hope to Elder Stateman:

     Michael Foot was speaking affectionately when in 1979 he quipped that David Steel had apparently gone from 'rising hope to elder statesman' without any intervening period whatsoever.

2. (by extension) A prominent and respected person in a specified field who is elderly or who has been in the field for a long time.
   • 1962, United States. Congress. Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, Developments in the Field of Detection and Identification of Nuclear Explosions (Project Vela) and Relationship to Test Ban Negotiations, page 9:

     I would classify him in this field as an elder statesman and a very knowledgeable and brilliant scientist, and useful for consulting purposes, but he is not directly working on Project Vela.

   • 2004, Mark Andresen, Field of Vision: The Broadcast Life of Kenneth Allsop, page 458:

     With the average age of the new production team under thirty, he found himself in the unenviable position of BBC Current Affairs elder statesman.

   • 2020, Merlin Sheldrake, Entangled Life, page 19:

     The 'loss of a sense of self-identity, delusions of self-identity and experiences of "alien control"', observed an elder statesman in the field of microbiome research, are all potential symptoms of mental illness.