Owen W. Roberts was a US diplomat and former United States Ambassador to Togo

United States Ambassador to Togo

This is a list of Ambassadors of the United States to Togo.Until 1955 French Togoland was a United Nations Trust Territory mandated by the U.N. to France. In 1955, French Togoland became the autonomous Republic of Togo within the French Community , although it retained its UN trusteeship status...

 from June 28, 1984 to July 5, 1986.

Roberts was born in Ardmore, Oklahoma

Ardmore, Oklahoma

Ardmore is a business, cultural and tourism city in and the county seat of Carter County, Oklahoma, United States. As of the 2010 Census, the city had a population of 24,283, while a 2007 estimate has the Ardmore micropolitan statistical area totaling 56,694 residents...

. He graduated from Princeton University

Princeton University

Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....

 in 1948 and Columbia University

Columbia University

Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

 in 1955 with an M.A. and Ph.D. He can speak French and German, as well as English.

Roberts served in the United States Army

United States Army

The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...

 from 1943 to 1946. In 1949 Roberts married Janet Roberts. In 1955 he entered the Foreign Service as consular officer in Cairo

Cairo

Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...

, Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

, and was commercial officer in Leopoldville

Kinshasa

Kinshasa is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The city is located on the Congo River....

 from 1958 to 1960. In the Department he was desk officer for Africa in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research (1961 to 1962), and in the Bureau of International Organization Affairs (1963 to 1964). He was political officer in Lagos

Lagos

Lagos is a port and the most populous conurbation in Nigeria. With a population of 7,937,932, it is currently the third most populous city in Africa after Cairo and Kinshasa, and currently estimated to be the second fastest growing city in Africa...

 from 1964 to 1965, and deputy chief of mission in Ouagadougou

Ouagadougou

Ouagadougou is the capital of Burkina Faso and the administrative, communications, cultural and economic center of the nation. It is also the country's largest city, with a population of 1,475,223 . The city's name is often shortened to Ouaga. The inhabitants are called ouagalais...

, Burkina Faso

Burkina Faso

Burkina Faso – also known by its short-form name Burkina – is a landlocked country in west Africa. It is surrounded by six countries: Mali to the north, Niger to the east, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Côte d'Ivoire to the southwest.Its size is with an estimated...

 from 1966 to 1968. He attended the Air War College

Air War College

The Air War College is a part of the United States Air Force's Air University, headquartered at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama. Air University's higher headquarters is Air Education and Training Command headquartered at Randolph Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas. The Air War...

 from 1969 to 1970. In the Department he was staff director of the Board of Examiners for the Foreign Service from 1970 to 1971, Deputy Director for Cultural Affairs for Africa, from 1971 to 1972, a member of the policy planning staff in 1973, and Executive Director of the Office of Inspector General from 1974 to 1975. From 1976 to 1978, he was Deputy Director of the Sinai Field Mission, Sinai Desert. He was Director of the African Office at the Department of Defense from 1978 to 1979, and deputy chief of mission in Addis Ababa

Addis Ababa

Addis Ababa is the capital city of Ethiopia...

, Ethiopia

Ethiopia

Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...

, from 1979 to 1982. In 1983 he served as African adviser to the United Nations General Assembly. From 1982 to 1984, he was roving Charge in Victoria

Victoria (geographical disambiguation)

Victoria, as the name of a place or a geographical feature, may refer to:- Main disambiguation pages :* La Victoria * Mount Victoria * Port of Victoria * List of places named after Queen Victoria...

, Banjul

Banjul

-Transport:Ferries sail from Banjul to Barra. The city is served by the Banjul International Airport. Banjul is on the Trans–West African Coastal Highway connecting it to Dakar and Bissau, and will eventually provide a paved highway link to 11 other nations of ECOWAS.Banjul International Airport...

, The Gambia

The Gambia

The Republic of The Gambia, commonly referred to as The Gambia, or Gambia , is a country in West Africa. Gambia is the smallest country on mainland Africa, surrounded by Senegal except for a short coastline on the Atlantic Ocean in the west....

, and then N'Djamena

N'Djamena

N'Djamena is the capital and largest city of Chad. A port on the Chari River, near the confluence with the Logone River, it directly faces the Cameroonian town of Kousséri, to which the city is connected by a bridge. It is also a special statute region, divided in 10 arrondissements. It is a...

, Chad

Chad

Chad , officially known as the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon and Nigeria to the southwest, and Niger to the west...

. In May 1984 Roberts was appointed Ambassador to the Republic of Togo, and held that post through September 1986. Owen retired in 1989.

Family

Roberts married Janet Read Kiehel Roberts in 1949. She was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

 in 1926. She attended Vassar College

Vassar College

Vassar College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college in the town of Poughkeepsie, New York, in the United States. The Vassar campus comprises over and more than 100 buildings, including four National Historic Landmarks, ranging in style from Collegiate Gothic to International,...

 and graduated in 1947 with a focus on creative writing and social anthropology

Anthropology

Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...

.