Richard Holbrooke, special U.S. envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, died Dec. 13, 2010, after surgery for a torn aorta. He was 69.
Holbrooke was among 100 notable Princeton Graduate School alumni listed in the Jan. 24, 2001, PAW in celebration of the school’s centennial. As assistant secretary of state for Europe, he was the chief architect of the Dayton accords that brought peace to Bosnia in 1995.
Holbrooke graduated from Brown in 1962, and entered the Foreign Service. From 1969 to 1970, he was a Mid-Career Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson School, a non-degree program. After the election of President Carter, Holbrooke was appointed assistant secretary of state for the Far East in 1977. Following the election of President Reagan, Holbrooke left the government and made his fortune in investment banking.
With the election of President Clinton, Holbrooke became U.S. ambassador to Germany and then assistant secretary of state for Europe. From 1999 to 2001, he was U.S. ambassador to the U.N. A seasoned and successful diplomat, he was also known to be as tough as any of his adversaries.
Holbrooke is survived by his third wife, the writer Kati Marton, whom he married in 1995; and two sons from his first marriage.
Graduate memorials are prepared by the APGA.