Wilson Nathaniel Howell Jr.

Wilson Nathaniel "Nat" Howell, Jr. died Dec. 17, 2020, in Charlottesville at the UVa Transitional Care Hospital/Hospice, after a fall/stroke in.late July, 2020. After becoming a Foreign Service Officer in 1965, he served in Egypt, Paris & Brussels (with NATO), INR & Mid-East Desk at DOS in D.C., Lebanon, United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Tampa, FL as POLAD to Central Command CINC., His last overseas post was Kuwait, where, as ambassador, he refused to vacate the embassy on Saddam Hussein's order and gave sanctuary to American citizens from August 2, 1990 to mid-December, while besieged by Iraqi troops. After a speaking tour around the USA, he served as Ambassador-in-Residence at the Univ. of VA & retired from the DOS in Dec. 1992. In his second career, he was a Research Professor at the Univ. of Va. from 1993 to 2015 with a focus on Arabian Peninsula & Gulf Affairs (APAG). A major accomplishment was the establishment of the R.K.Ramazani Chair in the College (History Dept.) at UVa. He earned a B.A. degree (1961) and Ph.D. (1965) in Foreign Affairs at UVa. He also attended the National War College (1981-2) and Arabic Language training in Beirut (1970-72) as well as French Language training at FSI in D.C. (1965-6). Research on the Kurds was the focus of his UVa doctoral dissertation. With Roberta Culbertson, he was the author of Siege: Crisis Leadership. He also authored Strangers When We Met, about the first century of Americans in Kuwait, beginning with medical missionaries in 1911 to 2011. Nat was born in Portsmouth VA in 1939 and attended public schools, graduating from Churchland High School in 1957. Survivors include his wife, Margie Saunders of Bedford County, VA (married in June, 1961). They had two sons, Chip (WNH III) and Edward (deceased).