Edgar Ritchie Explained

Albert Edgar Ritchie
Honorific-Suffix:C.C.
Ambassador From:Canadian
Country:the United States
Primeminister:Lester Pearson
Pierre Trudeau
Term Start:1966
Term End:1970
Predecessor:Charles Ritchie
Successor:Marcel Cadieux
Office2:Canadian Ambassador to Ireland
Term Start2:1976
Term End2:1980
Predecessor2:Harold Morton Maddick
Successor2:Alan William Sullivan
Primeminister2:Pierre Trudeau
Birth Date:20 December 1916
Birth Place:Andover, New Brunswick
Death Place:Ottawa, Ontario
Nationality:Canadian
Alma Mater:Mount Allison University (BA)
University of Oxford (BA)

Albert Edgar Ritchie, (December 20, 1916  - January 24, 2002) was a Canadian diplomat.

Early life and education

Born in Andover, New Brunswick, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1938 from Mount Allison University. A Rhodes scholar, he received an additional Bachelor of Arts from the University of Oxford in 1940. On 20 December 1941 he married Gwen Perdue of Ottawa, his wife for 60 years.

Career

In 1944, he joined the Minister of Foreign Affairs and worked in Washington, D.C.

He resigned in 1946 to become Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Affairs Department of the United Nations. He re-joined the Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1948 and was posted in London. In 1959, he was appointed Assistant Under-Secretary of State for External Affairs. He served as Deputy Under Secretary of State for External Affairs from August 1964 until July 1966. From 1966 to 1970, he was the Canadian ambassador to the United States. From 1970 to 1974, he held the top job in Canada's foreign service as Under Secretary of State for External Affairs. From 1976 to 1980, he was the Canadian ambassador to Ireland.

In 1973 he received the Government of Canada Public Service Outstanding Achievement Award. In 1975 he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada.

Death

Ritchie died on January 24, 2002, in Ottawa, Ontario.

References