{{short description|American diplomat (1946–2002)}} {{Infobox officeholder | office = 9th United States Ambassador to Albania | term_start = September 8, 1999 | term_end = May 19, 2002 | preceded = Marisa R. Lino | succeeded = James Franklin Jeffrey | birth_date = July 22, 1946 | death_date = {{death date and age|2002|5|19|1946|7|22}} | death_place = Near Peshkopi, Albania | birth_place = Omaha, Nebraska | education = University of Chicago<br>Harvard University (MPA)<br>University of California, Berkeley (PhD) }} [[File:Secretary Blinken Visits Embassy Tirana.jpg|thumb|Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets embassy employees and family members in front of the memorial to Joseph Limprecht in the gardens of the U.S. Embassy in Tirana (February 2024)]] '''Joseph Limprecht''' (July 22, 1946 – May 19, 2002) was an American diplomat who was a member of the Senior Foreign Service. He served as the U.S. Ambassador to Albania. Limprecht was nominated on May 12, 1999, and confirmed on July 1, 1999.<ref name="Archive">{{cite web |title=Biography: Joseph Limprecht |url=https://1997-2001.state.gov/about_state/biography/limprecht_joseph.html |website=US State Department Archives |accessdate=17 November 2019}}</ref> He died from a heart attack at the age of 55 while visiting Lure National Park<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-xpm-2002-05-20-0205200273-story.html|title = U.S. Envoy to Albania Dies| date=20 May 2002 }}</ref> in northern Albania.<ref name="WaPo">{{cite news |title=Joseph Limprecht Dies at Age 55 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/2002/05/20/joseph-limprecht-dies-at-age-55/fd809371-f072-4823-8c3c-3585300c2456/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |accessdate=17 November 2019}}</ref>
Born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska, Limprecht graduated from the University of Chicago before earning a Master's in Public Administration from Harvard University<ref name="WaPo" /> and a Ph.D. in history from the University of California, Berkeley.<ref name="Archive" /><ref>{{Cite news |agency=Associated Press |date=2002-05-21 |title=Joseph Limprecht, U.S. Diplomat, 55 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/21/world/joseph-limprecht-us-diplomat-55.html |access-date=2025-07-08 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
==Career== Limprecht joined the Foreign Service in 1975. His posts included serving as public safety adviser at the U.S. mission in Berlin from 1985 to 1988 and directing anti-narcotics operations in Islamabad, Pakistan until 1991. Stateside, he was deputy director of the Office of Israel and Arab-Israeli Affairs and a division chief in State's personnel bureau. His last post before becoming Ambassador was deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.<ref name="WaPo" />
== Legacy == The library at the Faculty of Economic Sciences at the University of Tirana in Tirana, Albania was named after him posthumously.<ref>{{Cite web |title=UT Library - UNIVERSITY OF TIRANA |url=https://unitir.edu.al/en/biblioteka-te-ut-se/ |access-date=2025-07-08 |website=UNIVERSITETI I TIRANËS |language=en}}</ref>
==References== <references />
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Limprecht, Joseph}} Category:1946 births Category:2002 deaths Category:People from Omaha, Nebraska Category:University of Chicago alumni Category:Harvard Kennedy School alumni Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni Category:United States Foreign Service personnel Category:Ambassadors of the United States to Albania Category:20th-century American diplomats Category:21st-century American diplomats