Harry J. Gilmore, First U.S. Ambassador to Armenia Dies

Harry J. Gilmore, the first United States Ambassador to the Republic of Armenia, died April 23 after suffering a heart attack at his home in Dumfries, Virginia. He was 77.

Gilmore served as U.S. Ambassador to Armenia from May 1993 to July 1995. After serving his term in Armenia, he served as a Dean at the Foreign Service Institute from 1995 to 1997 before ending his 35-year career as a Foreign Service Officer for the United States government.

Before his tenure as U.S. Ambassador to Armenia, Gilmore served in overseas postings in Munich, Moscow, Budapest and Ankara. From 1981 until 1985, he acted as the U.S. Embassy's Deputy Chief of Mission in Belgrade and Director of the Office of Central European Affairs for the United States Department of State.

From 1987 to 1990, Gilmore was the United States Minister and Deputy Commandant of the American Sector in Berlin. After Germany reunified, he served as a principal officer for the United States Embassy in Germany from 1990 to 1991. After his tenure in Germany, he served as Deputy Commandant for International Affairs at the U.S. Army War College from 1991 to 1992.

Since January 2007, Gilmore served as a director of the Global Gold Corporation, an international gold mining, development, and exploration company that owns properties in Armenia and Chile.

"[Harry Gilmore was] a man who built upon more than a century of friendship between the American and Armenian peoples by establishing strong relations between the newly independent Republic of Armenia and the United States," said Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) Executive Director Aram Hamparian in a video message. "To this very day we benefit in very powerful ways by the strong work he did in those early years of Armenia's independence. In many ways, America is a great nation, a powerful nation, a respected nation because we send good diplomats, good men, like Harry Gilmore abroad to represent our values and our interests."