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Lawrence Pezzullo

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Lawrence Pezzullo
United States Ambassador to Uruguay
In office
August 10, 1977 – May 29, 1979
PresidentJimmy Carter
Preceded byErnest V. Siracusa
Succeeded byLyle Franklin Lane
United States Ambassador to Nicaragua
In office
July 31, 1979 – August 18, 1981
PresidentJimmy Carter
Ronald Reagan
Preceded byMauricio Solaún
Succeeded byAnthony Cecil Eden Quainton
Personal details
Born
Lawrence Anthony Pezzullo

(1926-05-03)May 3, 1926
New York City, New York, U.S.
DiedJuly 26, 2017(2017-07-26) (aged 91)
Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
SpouseJosephine DiMattia
Alma materColumbia University (BA)
OccupationDiplomat

Lawrence Anthony Pezzullo[1][2][3] (occasionally alternately spelled as Pezzulo[4][5]) (May 3, 1926 – July 26, 2017) was an American diplomat and Foreign Service officer. He served as the United States Ambassador to Nicaragua (1979–1981) and to Uruguay (1977–1979).[4] He was also the executive director of Catholic Relief Services from 1983 to 1992.[6]

Early life and education

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Pezzullo was born in New York City, and attended high school in Levittown, New York, and Columbia College, from which he graduated in 1951 on a G.I. Bill as a history major.[7][6]

Career

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After college, he taught high school in Levittown, New York for six years before joining the United States Foreign Service.[1] He served in Ciudad Juárez from 1958 to 1960, Saigon from 1962 to 1965, La Paz from 1965 to 1967, Bogotá from 1967 to 1969, and Guatemala from 1969 to 1971.

In 1972, he earned a master's degree from National War College[6] and was assigned to the Office of Central American Affairs at the State Department, before being named deputy director in 1974. From 1975 to 1977, he was the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Congressional Relations and was then named the United States Ambassador to Uruguay in 1977.[6][8]

He served for two years before being appointed as the United States Ambassador to Nicaragua by President Jimmy Carter in 1979.[9] During his tenure as ambassador, Pezzullo negotiated the abdication of Anastasio Somoza DeBayle and paved way for Sandinista rule in the country.[1] Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, foreign minister of Nicaragua, once said that Pezzullo was "the best U.S. ambassador to Nicaragua in this century" for ''trying to help his government understand the irreversibility of the process here and seek a modus vivendi with" the Sandinistas.[1]

Pezzullo also served as ambassador to Uruguay from 1977 to 1979.[10]

In 1983, he was appointed as the first layman director of the international Catholic Relief Services and helped relocate the headquarters of the organization from New York City to Baltimore.[6]

After leaving Catholic Relief Services, Pezzullo was named special envoy to Haiti by President Bill Clinton in 1993 with the aim of brokering a transition from military to civilian rule.[1] However, the effort was unsuccessful and he stepped down from the position a year later.[1]

He served as the diplomat-in-residence at University of Georgia and lectured at Goucher College.[6]

Personal life

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He married Josephine DiMattia in February 1950 and with her has three children.[11] Pezzulo died on July 26, 2017, at the age of 91. He was survived by his wife, three children, and seven grandchildren.[12]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f "Lawrence Pezzullo, Broker of Somoza's Abdication in Nicaragua, Dies at 91". The New York Times. August 1, 2017.
  2. ^ United States Department of State, Office of the Historian. "Intervention in Haiti, 1994–1995". Clinton appointed Lawrence Pezzullo as special envoy for Haiti
  3. ^ Pezzullo, Lawrence; Pezzullo, Ralph (1992). At the Fall of Somoza (2nd ed.). University of Pittsburgh Press. ISBN 978-0822937562.
  4. ^ a b "Lawrence A. Pezzulo - People - Department History - Office of the Historian". history.state.gov. Retrieved 2020-08-08.
  5. ^ Congress, United States (1994). "Congressional Record". p. 28557.
  6. ^ a b c d e f Rasmussen, Frederick N. "Lawrence A. Pezzullo, career diplomat who later became the first layman to head Catholic Relief Services". baltimoresun.com. Retrieved 2020-08-08.
  7. ^ "Columbia College Today". Internet Archive. Retrieved 2020-08-08.
  8. ^ "United States Ambassador to Uruguay Nomination of Lawrence A. Pezzullo. | The American Presidency Project". www.presidency.ucsb.edu. Retrieved 2020-08-08.
  9. ^ "United States Ambassador to Nicaragua Nomination of Lawrence A. Pezzullo. | The American Presidency Project". www.presidency.ucsb.edu. Retrieved 2020-08-08.
  10. ^ "The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project AMBASSADOR LAWRENCE A. PEZZULLO" (PDF). Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training. 24 February 1989. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 July 2024. Retrieved 31 July 2024.
  11. ^ Who's Who in the World, 1978-1979. Marquis Who's Who, LLC. 1978. ISBN 978-0-8379-1104-5.
  12. ^ Muere exembajador de EE.UU. en Nicaragua, Lawrence Pezzullo.(in Spanish)
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by United States Ambassador to Uruguay
1977–1979 		Succeeded by
Preceded by United States Ambassador to Nicaragua
1979–1981 		Succeeded by
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