William C. Harrop
b. 1929, Maryland -
Service History
Career Foreign Service Officer
US Ambassador to Israel, 1992 – 1993
US Ambassador to Zaire, 1988 – 1991
Inspector General of the Department of State and Foreign Service, 1983 – 1987
US Ambassador to Kenya and Seychelles, 1980 – 1983
US Ambassador to Guinea, 1975 – 1977
Biography
During his 39-year career as a Foreign Service officer, William (Bill) Harrop served as the US ambassador to Guinea, Kenya, Seychelles, Zaire, and Israel. He was inspector general of the State Department and Foreign Service, deputy assistant secretary of state for Africa, a member of the State Department's Policy Planning and Coordination staff, and deputy chief of mission to Australia. He also served in Italy and Belgium.
Harrop was chairman of the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA) from 1972 to 1974. He received the State Department Distinguished Honor Award, the Presidential Distinguished Service Award, the 2001 Foreign Service Cup, and the 2015 AFSA Award for Lifetime Contributions to American Diplomacy.
Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Harrop was educated at Harvard University, receiving a bachelor of arts degree in 1950. Additionally, he did graduate work at the University of Missouri School of Journalism and the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. During the Korean War, he served in the US Marine Corps.
Harrop is now associated with a private foundation—the Nelson B Delavan Foundation—and is the former chair of the Diplomacy Center Foundation Board of Directors. He continues to serve on the Foundation's Board as a director. Harrop is also a member of the Foreign Affairs Council and a director of the American Academy of Diplomacy, the Senior Living Foundation of the American Foreign Service, American Diplomacy Publishers, and the Humane Rescue Alliance of Washington, DC.
His wife of 66 years is the former Ann Garnsey Delavan. They have four sons and six grandchildren.