Laurence Adolph Steinhardt

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laurence_A._Steinhardt

Laurence Adolph Steinhardt (October 6, 1892 – March 28, 1950) was a United States diplomat. He served as the U.S. Minister to Sweden and U.S. Ambassador to Peru, the USSR, Turkey, Czechoslovakia, and Canada. He was the first United States Ambassador to be killed in office.

Biography

Steinhardt was born October 6, 1892 in New York City. He served as a Sergeant in the Quartermaster Corps in the U.S. Army in World War I. He married the former Dulcie Yates Hofmann. They had one daughter, Dulcie Ann.

Steinhardt was appointed U.S. Minister to Sweden in 1933 by Franklin D. Roosevelt. He was appointed ambassador to Peru in 1937, the Soviet Union in 1939, and Turkey in 1942.

While ambassador to Turkey, Steinhardt, particularly because he was Jewish, was involved in the rescue of Hungarian Jews from Bergen Belsen. He also played a significant role in helping many eminent intellectuals fleeing Europe to find refuge in Turkey.

In 1945, President Truman appointed Steinhardt ambassador to Czechoslovakia, and to Canada in 1948. While serving as the Ambassador to Canada, he was killed in a plane crash on March 28, 1950 near Ramsayville, Ontario, while en route to Washington, D. C. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Steinhardt was survived by his wife Dulcie Hofmann Steinhardt Beau (m. 1917, d. 1974) and daughter Dulcie Ann Sherlock.