Orison Rudolph Aggrey

O. Rudolph Aggrey
United States Ambassador to Romania
In office November 22, 1977 – July 11, 1981
President	Jimmy Carter Ronald Reagan
Preceded by	Harry George Barnes Jr.
Succeeded by	David B. Funderburk
United States Ambassador to Senegal
In office January 17, 1974 – July 10, 1977
President	Richard Nixon Gerald Ford Jimmy Carter
Preceded by	Gilbert Edward Clark
Succeeded by	Herman Jay Cohen
United States Ambassador to The Gambia
In office January 17, 1974 – July 10, 1977
President	Richard Nixon Gerald Ford Jimmy Carter
Preceded by	Gilbert Edward Clark
Succeeded by	Herman Jay Cohen
Personal details
Born	Orison Rudolph Aggrey (1926-07-24)July 24, 1926 Salisbury, North Carolina, U.S.
Died	April 6, 2016(2016-04-06) (aged 89) Alexandria, Virginia, U.S.
Spouse	Françoise Christiane Fratacci
Children	1
Alma mater	Hampton University Syracuse University

Orison Rudolph Aggrey (July 24, 1926 – April 6, 2016) was an American diplomat who served as the United States Ambassador to Senegal, Gambia, and Romania.^[1]

Aggrey was born in 1926 in Salisbury, North Carolina as the youngest of four children to Dr. James Emman Kwegyir Aggrey, an immigrant from the Gold Coast and later the co-Founder of Achimota School, and Rosebud Aggrey (née Douglass). He died in April 2016 at the age of 89.^[2]

He graduated in 1946 from Hampton Institute (now Hampton University) and received his master's degree from Syracuse University in 1948.

In 1977, President Jimmy Carter nominated Aggrey to be Ambassador Extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the U.S. to Romania. In Bucharest, he met Nobel Prize winning author Saul Bellow in December 1978 who asked for assistance in dealing with Romanian red-tape his Romanian-born wife, Alexandra Bellow, was experiencing while visiting her very ill mother in a Romanian hospital. Bellow portrayed Aggrey in chapter four of his novel The Dean's December, published in 1982, describing the ambassador as "discreet, soft-spoken, almost gentle, mysteriously earnest, handsome black man" (p. 58).

Diplomatic posts
Preceded by G. Edward Clark	U.S. Ambassador to Gambia 1973 – 1977	Succeeded by Herman Cohen
Preceded by G. Edward Clark	U.S. Ambassador to Senegal 1973 – 1977	Succeeded by Herman Cohen
Preceded by Harry Barnes	U.S. Ambassador to Romania 1977 – 1981	Succeeded by David Funderburk

References

1. "The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project Information Series AMBASSADOR RUDOLPH AGGREY" (PDF). Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training. 13 July 1990. Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 July 2024. Retrieved 15 July 2024.
2. "Tribute for O. Rudolph Aggrey".

External links

• O. Rudolph Aggrey Nomination of United States Ambassador to Romania.