Darryl Johnson, a retired career U.S. diplomat, died June 24, 2018, at age 80, of Parkinson’s disease and Lewy body dementia.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Washington in 1960 and attended graduate school at the University of Minnesota from 1960 to 1961. He then enrolled in Princeton’s English department but left in 1962 without a degree.
After Princeton, Johnson joined the State Department and served in India, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Washington, D.C., and Moscow. After returning to Washington, he served in Beijing and Warsaw. He was appointed the first U.S. ambassador to Lithuania upon the dissolution of the Soviet Union. He then became chief of mission in Taiwan, returned to Washington, and served as undersecretary of state for East Asia and Pacific Affairs.
Later, he became ambassador to Thailand and enjoyed several opportunities playing trumpet with the king of Thailand, an accomplished jazz musician. Johnson worked on U.S.-China relations in the last decade of the Soviet Union and witnessed the Tiananmen Square protests and the fall of the Berlin Wall, both in 1989.
Johnson is survived by his wife, Kathleen; three children; six grandchildren; and his first wife, Lee.
Graduate memorials are written by the APGA.