Passage - Ambassador Orison Rudolph Guggisberg Aggrey!

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Ambassador Orison Rudolph Guggisberg Aggrey, which sad event occurred on Thursday, April 7, 2016, in Virginia, USA. He was 89 years old.


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The late Ambassador Orison Rudolph Guggisberg Aggrey was the youngest and last surviving child of the late Dr. James Emman Kwegyir Aggrey, co-Founder of Achimota School, and the late Mrs. Rosebud Aggrey (nee Douglass).

Ambassador Aggrey was born on July 24, 1926, in Salisbury, NC. Following his father Dr. Aggrey's passage in July 1927, Ambassador Aggrey was raised by his late mother Mrs. Rosebud Aggrey together with his late siblings Abna, Kwegyir, and Rosebud in the Salisbury, NC, home located near Livingstone College where Dr. & Mrs. Aggrey lived with their family.

Popularly known as O. Rudolph Aggrey or "Rudy", Ambassador Aggrey graduated in 1946 from Hampton Institute with a B.S. degree and was the valedictorian of his graduating class. He received his Master's degree from Syracuse University in 1948. Ambassador Aggrey was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha, the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established for African Americans.

He joined the US State Department and served as was a career foreign service officer who was posted to Nigeria, France, and Vietnam. He served as Deputy Advisor for public affairs in the State Department's Bureau of African Affairs. In this post, Aggrey played a key role in the development of the Kennedy administration's program for Africa. He also served with Voice of America and the United States Information Service (USIS). In 1971,he was appointed to head the US State Department's Office of West African Affairs. In this capacity, he coordinated American policy affecting more than a dozen West African countries. In 1973, President Nixon appointed him as US Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Senegal and Gambia. In 1977, President Jimmy Carter appointed Ambassador Aggrey as the US Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Romania.

In the 1970s, he visited Ghana and Achimota School with his late sister Mrs. Abna Aggrey Lancaster.

Ambassador Aggrey is survived by his wife Mrs. Francoise Aggrey, his daughter Roxanne Aggrey, and his nieces: Mrs. Raemi Aggrey Lancaster Evans, Ms. Carol Aggrey Lancaster Meeks, and Mrs. Harriet Azalea Graves, and several family members.

Funeral arrangements are as follows:

Place: Everly Wheatly Funeral Home, 1500 West Braddock Rd, Alexandria, VA 22303

Viewing and visitation: 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm Wednesday, April 13th, 2016

Funeral: Service: 11:00 am Thursday, April 14th, 2016

Our sincere sympathy goes to Mrs. Francoise Aggrey, Roxanne Aggrey, and the entire Aggrey and Douglass families of North Carolina and Virginia.

May Ambassador Orison Rudolph Guggisberg Aggrey's dearest and beloved soul rest in eternal peace.