A Blog by the Editor of The Middle East Journal

Putting Middle Eastern Events in Cultural and Historical Context

Sunday, May 15, 2016

Clovis Maksoud, 1926-2016

Source: American University
Clovis Maksoud, diplomat, writer, intellectual, professor, and a familiar figure in Washington since the 1970s, has passed away at the age of 90.

He served for many years as a Representative of the Arab League, and was sent as a Special Representative of the League to the US during the oil crisis of 1974. From 1979-1990 he was the Arab League's Ambassador to the US and the UN. Maksoud, a proponent of Arab unity, resigned that post over the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. He was also a frequent spokesman for Palestinian issues.

At earlier periods in his career he had served as a writer and editor, and continued to write newspaper columns and articles for many years, as well as books. In recent years he served as Director of the Center for the Global South at The American University in Washington.

Ambassador Maksoud and his late wife Hala were prominent figures around the Washington diplomatic, Arab, and Lebanese communities for decades. He was always friendly, accessible, and outspoken, a highly visible voice for Lebanon, for Palestine, and for the Arab World as a whole.

1 comment:

David Mack said...

Clovis was a lovely person. We did not always agree,but he accepted that with his usual composure, good nature and articulate rebuttal of my positions on behalf of the State Department. When he left his post as Arab League representative, I was not sure it was due to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait or to the Arab League's response in support of Kuwait. When I asked him, he responded with one of his lengthy, baroque remarks that, at the end, left me shaking my head in a combination of mystification and admiration.