J. Christopher Stevens, killed Tuesday in an attack
in Benghazi, Libya, deserved much much better than the violent death
that came to him on the 11th anniversary of 9/11.
A former Peace Corps volunteer, fluent in Arabic,
Stevens was an easygoing but determined career diplomat, played down the
dangers of his job, and was the first sitting U.S. ambassador to be
killed in a violent attack since 1979.
The apparent cause of his death was smoke inhalation, although there were reports that he had been manually suffocated.
Funny and charming, with a broad smile and wide curiosity, Mr. Stevens made friends easily and kept them, colleagues said. He was well-known for haggling at the shops of the Old City in Jerusalem and lingering over coffee in the walled Old City in Tripoli.
Deputy Secretary of State William J. Burns called Stevens one of “the very finest officers of his generation in the Foreign Service.”
Stevens had served in Israel, Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Libya, which became the center of his career. He served there three times, including during Gaddafi's reign, and as the No. 2 U.S. diplomat in Libya (2007 to 2009).
Former State Department colleague Wayne White said: "He was a genuinely intelligent, high-minded guy,” .
As a diplomat, Mr. Stevens had a direct style that is unusual among his peers. Preparing then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for a meeting with Gaddafi in 2008, he alluded to Gaddafi’s crush on Rice. Rice later recalled Gaddafi’s interest in her as “creepy.”
Mr. Stevens, who grew up near Oakland, Calif., attended the University of California at Berkeley. He never married and had no children. His brother Tom Stevens, an assistant U.S. attorney in San Francisco, said the family had worried about Mr. Stevens’s safety.
“He was good-natured about it. He wasn’t afraid ...” Tom Stevens said.
Austin Tichenor, a high school classmate, college roommate and lifelong friend, said Mr. Stevens was passionate about a career that was worlds away from his own.
Mr. Stevens had worked as an international trade lawyer and a Peace Corps volunteer in Morocco before joining the State Department.
Arash Babaoff, a friend of Mr. Stevens’s since the 1990s, described him as an intensely committed diplomat.
“It was his life,” Babaoff said. “He was just someone who really had his heart in this...”
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Mr. Stevens is one of 8 U. S. Ambassadors who died in the line of duty.
1. John Christopher Stevens, in Libya -- Sept. 11, 2012
Stevens was a career diplomat and Arabic speaker known for his smile
and determination. He and three other Americans were slain in an attack
upon the U.S. Consulate in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi.-------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. Laurence A. Steinhardt, in Canada, March 28, 1950
Steinhardt was on his way back to Washington when his plane crashed in Ontario. He was a former ambassador to the Soviet Union, Turkey, Peru, Czechoslovakia and Canada.
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3. John Gordon Mein, in Guatemala -- Aug. 28, 1968
Mein was ordered out of his limousine and gunned down in Guatemala City by guerrillas.
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4. Cleo A. Noel Jr., in Sudan -- March 1, 1973
Noel was killed in an attack by guerrillas from the militant group Black September in the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Sudan.
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5. Francis E. Meloy Jr.,. in Lebanon -- June 16, 1976
Meloy, his economic adviser and their driver were kidnapped by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and shot to death. The killers were acquitted in 1996 on the grounds that their cases fell within the scope of a 1991 amnesty law that covers crimes committed during wartime.
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6. Rodger P. Davies, in Cyprus -- Aug. 19, 1974
Davies was shot during a protest against the embassy following the Turkish invasion of Cyprus.
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7. Adolph Dubs, in Afghanistan -- Feb. 14, 1979
Dubs was kidnapped by armed militants and held in the Kabul Hotel. They demanded the release of Badruddin Bahes, an imprisoned leader of their party. After an exchange of gunfire between Afghan police and the kidnappers, a U.S. Embassy medical team found Dubs seated in a chair with several bullet wounds in his head and chest.
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8. Arnold L. Raphel, in Pakistan, Aug. 17, 1988
Raphel was killed in a plane crash in Bahawalpur. Also aboard were Pakistani President Zia ul-Haq and U.S. Brig. Gen. Herbert M. Wassom. Raphel was fluent in Urdu, French and Persian.
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