Karl Lott Rankin ’22

KARL L. RANKIN, a career diplomat who was ambassador to Taiwan and to Yugoslavia, died Jan. 15, 1991, in Kennebunkport, Me. He was 92 years old and had retired from the State Department in 1981.

He transferred to Princeton from Heidelberg University, Germany, in Sept., 1921, For five years after graduation, he pursued his selected course, civil engineering, but in 1927 he entered the Foreign Service. He achieved the rank of consul in 1940 and was in Brussels when the Nazis overran it. The next year he was in Belgrade when the Luftwaffe blitzed the city. And when the Japanese invaded the Philippines, he spent 21 months in detention. After an exchange of prisoners, he was sent to Greece to be there when the British Royal Air Force defended the city against a Communist attack. In 1948 he was appointed a career minister, but after some traditional posts, he was named ambassador to Taiwan, a post usually reserved for political appointees. in 1958 he was appointed ambassador to Yugoslavia. He wrote a book in 1964 called CHINA ASSIGNMENT.

His first wife, Pauline Jordan, whom he married in 1925, died in 1976. He is survived by his second wife, Ruth Thompson Gracelon, whom he married in 1978. His career was a summary of top life in our times. His diplomatic papers were given to the University and are on file in Firestone Library.

The Class of 1922