David M. Ransom, Former U.S. Ambassador and Middle East Specialist, Dies at 65

David M. Ransom, 65, a career U.S. diplomat, died December 4 of a heart attack during a trip to New York City.

Ambassador Ransom was born November 23, 1938, in St. Louis, MO, as the son of a civil engineer who was a career military officer.  He lived in Greenville, Texas, and in Japan and Greece before his father died when David was 14.  He was awarded a George Jackson Mead scholarship to attend The Choate School (1956), and received full scholarships to Princeton University (BA, 1960) and to the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (MA, 1962).  Ambassador Ransom served for three years in the U.S. Marine Corps (1962-65) as a first lieutenant.

In 1965, Ambassador Ransom joined the U.S. Foreign Service and over the course of his 32-year career became a Middle East area specialist.  He served in posts in Tehran, Beirut, and Jeddah.  Ransom also served as Deputy Chief of Mission in three Embassies, Sana’a (Yemen Arab Republic, 1975- 78), Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates, 1983-85) and Damascus (Syria, 1985 to 1988). In these posts, he twice received Department of State Superior Honor Awards.  He was fluent in Arabic.

From 1994 to 1997, Ransom was American Ambassador to the State of Bahrain. At the end of his tour, he received the Department of Defense Distinguished Service Medal, the Department’s highest civilian award, and the Order of Bahrain First Class, the highest award of the State of Bahrain.  Ambassador Ransom was involved deeply in issues of U.S. commerce and investment, diplomatic coordination of area security policy, political military affairs, and support for the Middle East peace policy.  Throughout his career and in retirement, Ambassador Ransom dedicated significant personal effort to improving relations between the U.S. and the Arab world.

In addition to his State Department career, he served twice in tours outside the Department. First, he worked in the White House National Security Council staff from 1973 to 1975, during the Nixon and Ford presidencies, first under Henry Kissinger and later under General Brent Scowcroft. He also worked in the Department of Defense, from 1978 to 1982, as the Director of the Near East, South Asia and Africa Division, serving both the Democratic appointee Harold Brown and his Republican successor Casper Weinberger.  In this capacity, he received the Defense Superior Service Award.

Ambassador Ransom retired in 1997 with a rank of Minister-Counselor in the Senior Foreign Service and went on to create an international consulting firm, DMRansom Associates, which worked with investment and other projects in the Gulf region.

Ambassador Ransom was the Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Rock Creek International School, where he was instrumental in the creation of the Arabic-English program.  In addition, he was an Adjunct Scholar at the Middle East Institute and a consultant on Middle Eastern political issues to national and international media.

Ambassador Ransom was an avid and expert collector of Middle Eastern carpets, and he loved to spend time on his tractor (wearing his trademark red, white, and blue striped suspenders) at his farm in the mountains of West Virginia.

He is survived by his wife of 38 years, Marjorie, his three daughters Elizabeth, Katherine and Sarah, his brother Clifford, a son-in-law, Craig Silliman, and two grandsons, Ransom and Gabriel.