Harry Joseph Gilmore (November 16, 1937 – April 23, 2015) was an American diplomat who served as the first U.S. Ambassador to Armenia.

Early life and education

Gilmore was born in

McKeesport, Pennsylvania McKeesport is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is situated at the confluence of the Monongahela and Youghiogheny rivers and within the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. The population was 17,727 as of the 2020 census. It ...

, and raised in

Clairton, Pennsylvania Clairton is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. It is located along the Monongahela River and is part of the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Area. The population was 6,181 at the 2020 census. Under Pennsylvania legal classifications for local g ...

. He graduated from

Clairton High School Clairton High School is located in suburban Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County in the city of Clairton, Pennsylvania, Clairton, United States. It is part of the Clairton City Sch ...

in 1955 as class president. He attended

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...

for two years to study piano, before graduating in 1960 from the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the universit ...

. Gilmore then pursued

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

and

East European Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whic ...

studies at

Indiana University Bloomington Indiana University Bloomington (IU Bloomington, Indiana University, IU, or simply Indiana) is a public university, public research university in Bloomington, Indiana. It is the flagship university, flagship campus of Indiana University and, with ...

Career

Gilmore's rise in the foreign service included working as deputy commandant for international affairs at the

United States Army War College The United States Army War College (USAWC) is a U.S. Army educational institution in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, on the 500-acre (2 km2) campus of the historic Carlisle Barracks. It provides graduate-level instruction to senior military offic ...

. Gilmore served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the American Embassy in

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

from 1981 to 1985, and was the Deputy Director for Eastern European and Yugoslav Affairs at the

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other n ...

. Gilmore was the U.S. Minister and Deputy Commandant of the American Sector in Berlin from 1987-1990. He contributed to ensuring the safety of thousands of East Berliners, who moved to Southern Berlin after the

fall of the Berlin Wall The fall of the Berlin Wall (german: Mauerfall) on 9 November 1989, during the Peaceful Revolution, was a pivotal event in world history which marked the destruction of the Berlin Wall and the figurative Iron Curtain and one of the series of eve ...

. President

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...

tapped Gilmore as U.S. ambassador to

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...

in August 1992, but his nomination was not acted upon by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

. Gilmore was nominated for the second time by President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

on April 2, 1993, and confirmed by the Senate. After his retirement from the foreign service in 1997 after 36 years of service, Mr. Gilmore served as a dean at the

Foreign Service Institute The Foreign Service Institute (FSI) is the United States federal government's primary training institution for employees of the U.S. foreign affairs community, preparing American diplomats as well as other professionals to advance U.S. foreig ...

Arlington County, Virginia Arlington County is a County (United States), county in the Virginia, Commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from the Washington, D.C., District of Co ...

Personal life

An accomplished pianist, Gilmore would often accompany his wife who was a professional singer. The couple would present American

show tunes A show tune is a song originally written as part of the score of a work of musical theatre or musical film, especially if the piece in question has become a standard, more or less detached in most people's minds from the original context. Th ...

and other music at

U.S. embassy The United States has the second most diplomatic missions of any country in the world after Mainland China, including 166 of the 193 member countries of the United Nations, as well as observer state Vatican City and non-member countries Kosovo a ...

events.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gilmore, Harry 1937 births 2015 deaths Ambassadors of the United States to Armenia American classical pianists American male classical pianists Clinton administration personnel Indiana University Bloomington alumni People from Clairton, Pennsylvania People from McKeesport, Pennsylvania Recipients of the Order of Merit of Berlin United States Foreign Service personnel United States Forest Service officials University of Pittsburgh alumni