Samuel R. Gammon *53

At age 100, Sam died of respiratory failure Oct. 21, 2024, in Charlottesville, Va.

Born in Sherman, Texas, Jan. 22, 1924, his studies at Texas A&M were interrupted when he joined the Army during World War II. After completing his B.A. in 1946, Sam’s graduate work at Princeton was interrupted by military service during the Korean War. Eventually he received his Ph.D. in history in 1953.

Sam joined the Foreign Service in 1954. He served as consul general in Asmara, then part of Ethiopia; political counselor in Rome; deputy assistant director of USIA; executive assistant for management at the State Department under William Macomber and Ben Read; deputy executive secretary of the Secretariat under Henry Kissinger; deputy chief of mission and chargé in Paris; and ambassador to Mauritius. He served for seven months as an assistant to Vice President Lyndon Johnson.

Sam said of his Foreign Service career, “I met four U.S. presidents, three French presidents, two Italian presidents, one emperor, the Shah of Iran, and one pope.”

Following retirement from the Foreign Service, he began a second career as executive director of the American Historical Association from 1981 to 1994, retiring at age 70.

Predeceased by his wife Mary, Sam left no immediate family. 

Graduate alumni memorials are prepared by the APGA.