Sir Leslie Fielding (29 July 1932 – 4 March 2021) was a British diplomat.Fielding, Sir Leslie, KCMG - Brill Reference
/ref> In the

Diplomatic Service Diplomatic service is the body of diplomats and foreign policy officers maintained by the government of a country to communicate with the governments of other countries. Diplomatic personnel obtains diplomatic immunity when they are accredited to ...

, he spent time in the

Foreign Office Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * Unit ...

in London before serving as the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...

Ambassador to Tokyo between 1978 and 1982. He was Director-General for external relations at the European Commission from 1982 to 1987.

Early life

Fielding was the son of Percy Fielding and Margaret Calder. He was educated at

Emmanuel College, Cambridge Emmanuel College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay, Chancellor of the Exchequer to Elizabeth I. The site on which the college sits was once a priory for Dominican mon ...

and the

School of Oriental and African Studies SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury ar ...

, where he studied

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

Career

Fielding spent seven years in the Foreign Office in London, as well as serving political assignments in overseas embassies in Tehran, Singapore, Phnom Penh and Paris.About Sir Leslie Fielding
/ref> He joined the European Commission in 1973 and was the Ambassador to Tokyo between 1978 and 1982. Upon his return from

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, he became the Director-General for external relations at the European Commission. Fielding was knighted in 1988. He was a non-executive director of IBM (Europe) and a special adviser to

Panasonic formerly between 1935 and 2008 and the first incarnation of between 2008 and 2022, is a major Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka, Kadoma, Osaka P ...

. Between 1987 and 1992 he was Vice-Chancellor of the

University of Sussex , mottoeng = Be Still and Know , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £14.4 million (2020) , budget = £319.6 million (2019–20) , chancellor = Sanjeev Bhaskar , vice_chancellor = Sasha Roseneil , ...

. He was a patron of the

Society of King Charles the Martyr The Society of King Charles the Martyr is an Anglican devotional society dedicated to the cult of King Charles the Martyr, a title of Charles I of England (1600–1649). It is a member of the Catholic Societies of the Church of England, an Ang ...

Death

Sir Leslie died on 4 March 2021 after a short illness.

Publications

*''Europe as a global partner: the external relations of the European Community'', University Association for Contemporary European Studies, London, 1989. *''Before the Killing Fields: Witness to Cambodia and the Vietnam War'', I.B.Tauris, 2007. *''"Kindly call me God": the misadventures of 'Fielding of the FO', Eurocrat extraordinaire and vice-chancellor semipotentiary'', Boermans Books, 2009. *''Twilight over the Temples: the close of Cambodia's Belle Epoque'', Boermans Books, 2011. *''The Mistress of the Bees: a novel'', Boermans Books, 2011. *''Mentioned in despatches: Phnom Penh, Paris, Tokyo, Brussels: is diplomacy dead?'', Boermans Books, 2012. *''Is Diplomacy Dead?'' Boermans Books, 2014. *''When The EU Going Was Good'' Boermans Books, 2020

References

FIELDING, Sir Leslie
''Who's Who 2014'', A & C Black, 2014; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2013 1932 births 2021 deaths People educated at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School for Boys Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge Alumni of SOAS University of London British diplomats Ambassadors of the European Union to Japan Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Recipients of the Grand Decoration with Star for Services to the Republic of Austria People associated with the University of Sussex IBM employees British writers British officials of the European Union {{England-diplomat-stub