Colonel William A. Phillips

John Cooper Wiley (September 26, 1893 – February 3, 1967)^[1] was a United States Foreign Service officer and ambassador.

Career

Wiley was born in Bordeaux, France, while his father served there as U.S. Consul. He was educated by tutors and studied at Union College, Columbia Law School, and Georgetown University Law Center. While at Union College, he joined the Theta chapter of the Psi Upsilon fraternity.

He entered the United States Foreign Service in 1915 and served in several positions in Europe and South America.^[2] In 1938, he was the Chargé d'Affaires ad interim in Austria, the Envoy Extraordinary, and the Minister Plenipotentiary to Latvia and Estonia (the last ambassador before the Soviet occupation in 1940). He went on to make appointments as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Colombia, Portugal, Iran, and Panama.^[1]

Retirement

He retired in 1953 and resided in the Georgetown area of Washington, D.C. He died in Washington on February 3, 1967. He was buried at Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis.

Family

He was the son of Congressman John M. Wiley and the grandson of John J. Cooper, who served as Indiana State Treasurer. John Cooper Wiley was married to Irena Monique Baruch (1906-1972), a well-known sculptor and portrait painter.

Footnotes