Richard K. Fox, former Senior Vice President of Meridian International Center, was a former career Foreign Service officer. He retired from the Department of State in 1984 after serving as Senior Deputy Inspector General for the Foreign Service and the Department of State.

He entered the Department in 1961 and served in a variety of positions before being assigned to Spain 1965. He returned to Washington in 1970, first as Executive Director and then as Deputy Assistant Secretary, in the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. In 1974, Mr. Fox was named Deputy Director of Personnel for Career Counseling and Assignments, and then selected to attend the Department’s Senior Seminar in Foreign Policy, 1976-77. In 1977, he was nominated by President Carter as Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago.

Ambassador Fox was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and held a Bachelor of Arts degree from Indiana University. His military service was in the U.S. Navy. He worked for the Urban League and the Minnesota Fair Employment Practices Commission before entering the Foreign Service.

Ambassador Fox served on the board of a number of national organizations. He was a past President of the Board of Directors of the Wheat Ridge Foundation in Chicago, a former trustee of the University of the District of Columbia, past president of the Lutheran Human Relations Association of America, a former member of the President’s Advisory Council, Valparaiso University, President of the American Foreign Service Protective Association, former Treasurer of the Board of Directors of Big Brothers of the National Capitol Area, member of the Board of the Center for the Common Good, Oakland, California, and the Vesper Society. He was the commencement speaker and recipient of a Doctor of Laws degree from Valparaiso University in 1983. On his retirement from the Department of State, he was awarded the Wilbur J. Carr award for distinguished service.

Ambassador Fox died on April 9, 2017, at the age of 91.