Edward Paul Brynn was born in Pittsburgh, Pa., on August 1, 1942. He was raised in Montpelier, Vermont and graduated from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service in 1964. He holds graduate degrees in British History from Stanford University (M.A. 1965 and Ph.D. 1968) and Trinity College Dublin in Irish Politics (M. Litt. 1968 and Ph. D. 1975). His military service comprised four years of active duty as Professor in the Department of History and a brief tour in Vietnam (1968-1972) and eighteen years in the active reserve. He retired from the Air Force as a Lt. Colonel in 1992.

Brynn entered the Foreign Service in 1972. His posts included: Colombo (1973-1975) as Junior Political and then Economic Officer; the Air Force Academy (1975-1978) on detail from State; Bamako (1978-1980); AF Bureau as Desk Officer (1980-1981), Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (for Senator Patrick Leahy (Vt.) (1981-1982); Nouakchott as DCM/CDA (1982-1985); Banjul as CDA (1985); Moroni as CDA (1985-1987); Yaounde as DCM/CDA (1987-1989); Senior Seminar (1989-1990); Ouagadougou as COM (1990-1993); AF Bureau as PDAS (1993-5); Accra as COM (1995-1998); National War College as Deputy Commandant (1998-1999).

Brynn retired from State in July 1999. From 1999 to 2005 he was Associate Provost for International Programs at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and from 2005 to 2009 as Professor in the Department of History. He returned to DOS as the Acting Historian from 2009 until 2012. Since 2012 he has taught British, Irish, and British Empire history in Germany.

He has also taught as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University (1998-1999) and the University of Colorado (1966-1968). He has published twelve scholarly articles and two books on eighteenth and nineteenth century British and Irish history.

Brynn was a member of he Board of Directors of VERA: Institute of Justice, New York (2004-2010) and the Board of Visitors, Georgetown University School of Foreign Service (2011-2015).

Jane Cooke Brynn, Mr. Brynn’s spouse and Foreign Service Officer, died in 2010. Five children, all married, and their eight children live in Colorado, Michigan, Vermont, Illinois, and North Carolina. They indulge their father’s affection for the farm in Vermont and their own preference for the house in Sanderling, North Carolina. Mr. Brynn’s collection of 6000 books on Irish and British history have found a home at a college in Vermont, to the relief of the children.