Edward Perkins
June 8, 1928 – November 7, 2020
An American diplomat who served as U.S. Ambassador to Liberia, South Africa, and the United Nations. He was later the director of the United States State Department’s Diplomatic Corps.
He was born on June 8, 1928, in the city of Sterlington, Louisiana. His father was Edward Joseph Perkins, Sr., and Tiny Estella Noble Holmes. He grew up in Pine Bluff, AR, and graduated in 1947 from Jefferson High School in Portland, Oregon. He enrolled in the University of Maryland in 1967 and obtained his B.A. degree. Earned his B.A. And further along, he obtained his M.A. and Doctor of Public Administration from the University of Southern California. He is an active member of the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity and holds the highest honor the fraternity bestows on its members, the Laurel Wreath Award.
In the year of 1986, he became the first Black American to be appointed as Ambassador to apartheid South Africa during the Apartheid era. According to former Secretary of State George Shultz in his forward to the book Mr. Ambassador: Warrior of Peace, Ambassador Mr. Perkins’ performance in South Africa helped lay the groundwork for the end of apartheid. Mr. Perkins also played a vital role in the diplomatic process that brought about independence in Namibia.
He was married to Lucy Ching-mei Liu. Liu’s traditional Taiwanese family did not want her to marry a black American, necessitating an elopement between the two in Taipei in 1962. They had two children, Katherine and Sarah Perkins, and four grandchildren.
Edward Joseph Perkins died on Nov. 7 in a Washington, D.C., hospital after suffering a stroke. He was 92 years old.