country president ambassador_from term_start article_title term_end
mauritius gerald ford united states june 23 , 1976 robert v. keeley
 september 17 , 1978
robert v. keeley

robert vossler keeley -lrb- september 4 , 1929 -- january 9 , 2015 -rrb- had a 34-year career in the foreign service of the united states , from 1956 to 1989 .
he served three times as ambassador : to greece -lrb- 1985 -- 89 -rrb- , zimbabwe -lrb- 1980 -- 84 -rrb- , and mauritius -lrb- 1976 -- 78 -rrb- .
in 1978 -- 80 he was deputy assistant secretary of state for african affairs , in charge of southern and eastern africa .
earlier in his career he had assignments as deputy chief of mission in cambodia -lrb- 1974 -- 75 -rrb- and uganda -lrb- 1971 -- 73 -rrb- , and as deputy director of the interagency task force for the indochina refugees -lrb- 1975 -- 76 -rrb- .
his other foreign postings were as political officer in jordan , mali , and greece .
in washington he served as congo -lrb- zaire -rrb- desk officer , and as alternate director for east africa .
at his retirement in 1989 keeley held the rank of career minister .
the same year he received the christian herter award from the american foreign service association for `` extraordinary accomplishment involving initiative , integrity , intellectual courage , and creative dissent . ''
at other stages in his career he earned the superior honor award -lrb- for cambodia -rrb- , a presidential citation -lrb- for the refugee task force -rrb- , and a presidential distinguished service award -lrb- for zimbabwe -rrb- .
in 1985 he was elected president of the american foreign service association .
from november 1990 to january 1995 ambassador keeley served as president of the middle east institute in washington , a private , non-profit educational and cultural institution founded in 1946 to foster greater understanding in the united states of the countries of the middle east region from morocco to central asia .
