Former Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger dies

Lawrence S. Eagleburger, President George H.W. Bush’s deputy secretary and secretary of state, died over the weekend at the age of 80.


It is not clear what the cause of death was.

Eagleburger was the only career State Department diplomat to rise through the ranks to become head of the department.

He assumed the job for a short period of time from 1992 to 1993 after James Baker resigned during Bush’s final months in office. He came to the State Department after serving two years as an Army officer in the 1950s.

Highlights of his diplomatic career include serving as an executive assistant to Henry Kissinger, President Richard Nixon’s secretary of state, serving as President Ronald Reagan’s undersecretary of state, and as ambassador to Yugoslavia during the Carter administration.

President Barack Obama said in a statement this weekend that, “With the passing of former Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger, our nation has lost a distinguished diplomat and public servant.”

“As Deputy Secretary and then Secretary of State under President George H.W. Bush, he helped our nation navigate the pivotal days during the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War.”

Vice President Joseph Biden said in a statement that he “considered [Eagleburger] to be one of the finest Foreign Service officers of his generation.”