Thomas Melady | U.S. envoy to Vatican, 86

Thomas Melady, 86, a scholar and college president who served as a U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, died Monday at his Washington home. He had brain cancer, said his wife, Margaret.

Mr. Melady began his career in the 1950s as an authority on emerging independence movements in Africa. He served as U.S. ambassador to Burundi before becoming ambassador to Uganda in 1972, when the country was controlled by Idi Amin.

In 1973, Mr. Melady was recalled in protest when Amin repeatedly criticized the policies of Richard Nixon in Vietnam.

After serving as executive vice president at St. Joseph's University and later as president of Sacred Heart University in Connecticut, he reentered the world of diplomacy in 1989, when George H.W. Bush named him ambassador to the Vatican, where he played a leading role in the Vatican's recognizing the state of Israel, leading to full diplomatic relations. - Washington Post