Kenton Wesley Keith (born November 12, 1939) is a former American career diplomat and ambassador to

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...

from 1992 to 1995. A U.S. Navy veteran, Keith also served as Senior Vice president of programming for the

American Academy of Diplomacy The American Academy of Diplomacy is a private, nonprofit, non-partisan, elected organization whose active membership is limited to men and women who have held positions of high responsibility in crafting and implementing American foreign policy. ...

. Ambassador Keith has been awarded two presidential service awards and is a Chevalier in the

French Order of Arts and Letters The ''Ordre des Arts et des Lettres'' (Order of Arts and Letters) is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is t ...

Personal life

Keith was born on November 12, 1939, in Kansas City, Missouri. His mother, Gertrude Keith, was a civil servant and one of the first African-American women to attend college in the United States. His father
Jimmy Keith
was a Jazz saxophonist and a legend on the Kansas City jazz scene. Keith attended the racially segregated Lincoln High School in Kansas City and was later a student at

The University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. Tw ...

where he earned a degree in International Relation and French in 1961. During his time there Keith also completed the

Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps The Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) program is a college-based, commissioned officer training program of the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps. Origins A pilot Naval Reserve unit was established in September 19 ...

program, which later led to a career as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy. In June 1963, Keith married Brenda Ayo. Keith and Ayo had two children a son, Vincent, and a daughter
Pamela
Keith is a member of

Alpha Phi Alpha Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. () is the oldest intercollegiate historically African American fraternity. It was initially a literary and social studies club organized in the 1905–1906 school year at Cornell University but later evolved int ...

fraternity. He is a member of the fraternity's

World Policy Council The World Policy Council of Alpha Phi Alpha, Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity is a nonprofit and nonpartisan think tank established in 1996 at Howard University to expand the fraternity's involvement in politics and social and current policy to encompa ...

, a

think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmenta ...

whose purpose is to expand Alpha Phi Alpha's involvement in politics and social and current policy to encompass international concerns.

References

__FORCETOC__ 1939 births Living people Ambassadors of the United States to Qatar African-American diplomats United States Foreign Service personnel 21st-century African-American people 20th-century American diplomats 20th-century African-American people {{US-diplomat-stub