He was born in Washington, D.C., in 1934, and went to St. Albans School there. At Princeton he was chairman of the Nassau Literary Magazine and the class poet. At the University of Virginia School of Law he helped found the Virginia Journal of International Law. He also attended Union Theological Seminary as a Rockefeller Brother Theological Fellow and studied theological philosophy at the Graduate School of Princeton University.

From 1961 to 1965 Matthew was a lawyer in Washington, D.C. From 1966 to 1972 he was an attorney with Warner-Lambert Pharmaceutical Co., last serving as counsel to its Western Hemisphere Group. From 1972 to 1981 he was with the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association, where he served as vice president international. Subsequently he moved to Palmyra, Va., where he was engaged in the private practice of law until his retirement in 2011. His avocation was writing traditional poetry.

He was a member of the Chevy Chase Club and the Metropolitan Club.

Matthew is survived by his wife of 58 years, Jane; daughters Anne and her husband, Timothy Owen, and Laura Hadley Perry; three grandsons, Christopher, Matthew, and Timothy Jr., and their wives; six great-grandchildren; and his brother, Robert Hastings Perry.