Robert B. Oakley ’52

Bob died Dec. 10, 2014, in McLean, Va., of complications from Parkinson’s disease.

He came to Princeton from South Kent School. At Princeton, he joined the special program for the humanities, belonged to Quadrangle Club, and played club football and softball.

He attended Navy Officer Candidate School, served in Japan, then joined the Foreign Service. He met Phyllis Elliott, also a Foreign Service officer who, conforming to rules at that time, resigned to marry him in Cairo in 1958. She later rejoined the service and held distinguished posts in her own right.

Bob became one of the outstanding diplomats of our generation, serving in hotspots such as Khartoum, Abidjan, Saigon, Beirut, Paris, and also at the UN and in Washington. This was followed by ambassadorships in the Congo, Somalia, and Pakistan, then two tours on the National Security Council staff, where he succeeded Hal Saunders ’52 in 1974 and returned under national security adviser Frank Carlucci ’52 in 1987.

After retiring in 1991, he obtained the release of an American pilot captured during the Black Hawk Down incident in Somalia.

Bob is survived by Phyllis; a son; a daughter; and five grandchildren, to whom the class sends sympathy.