{{Short description|American diplomat}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2024}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = | name = Wilbert John Le Melle | honorific_suffix = |image=Amb. Wilbert J. LeMelle.jpg | ambassador_from = United States | country = Kenya | term_start = May 11, 1977 | term_end = June 28, 1980 | predecessor = Anthony D. Marshall | successor = William Caldwell Harrop | ambassador_from2 = United States | country2 = Seychelles | term_start2 = May 11, 1977 | term_end2 = June 28, 1980 | predecessor2 = Anthony D. Marshall | successor2 = William Caldwell Harrop | birth_date = November 11, 1931 | birth_place = New Iberia, Louisiana, United States | death_date = January 11, 2003 (aged 71) | death_place = New Rochelle, New York | spouse = Yvonne T. Le Melle (née Tauriac) | party = Democratic | children = 4 }} '''Wilbert John Le Melle''' (November 11, 1931 – January 11, 2003) was an American diplomat, author and academician. He served as an Ambassador of The United States to the Republic of Kenya and to the Republic of Seychelles from 1977 to 1980.<ref>{{cite news|title=Carter Names 10 as Ambassadors Accepting Advice of New Board|url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1977/04/08/75064545.html?pageNumber=8|access-date=7 February 2015|agency=Associated Press|work=The New York Times|date=8 April 1977}}</ref> He was also a president of Mercy College in New York and of the Phelps Stokes Fund.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.blackpast.org/aah/lemelle-wilbert-j-sr-1931-2003|title = Wilbert J. LeMelle Sr. (1931-2003) |website=blackpast.org|date = 12 June 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/717003783/?terms=%22wilbert%20le%20melle%22 |title=19 May 1991, 10 - The Daily Item at |publisher=Newspapers.com |date=1991-05-19 |accessdate=2022-06-05}}</ref>
== Biography == Born on November 11, 1931, in New Iberia, Louisiana, he was one of eight children born to Therese and Eloi LeMelle.<ref name=":0">{{cite web|url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=7309|title=Jimmy Carter: United States Ambassador to Kenya and Seychelles - Nomination of Wilbert J. Le Melle|website=The American Presidency Project|access-date=2017-11-17}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite news |date=3 December 1998 |title=The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project AMBASSADOR WILBERT LEMELLE |url=https://adst.org/OH%20TOCs/LeMelle,%20Wilbert.toc.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240627032424/https://adst.org/OH%20TOCs/LeMelle,%20Wilbert.toc.pdf |archive-date=27 June 2024 |access-date=25 July 2024 |work=Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training}}</ref> Initially studying to become a priest, he received a Bachelor of Arts in 1955 and a Master of Arts in 1956 from Notre Dame Seminary. He left the seminary at age 24 and then earned a Ph.D. in political science/international relations in 1963 from the University of Denver.<ref name=":0" /> He served in the United States Army from 1957 to 1959.
He was an assistant professor in of history and philosophy at Grambling State University between 1956 and 1961. Between 1963 until 1965 he worked in the Department of Government at Boston University as an assistant professor and research associate in the African Studies Program.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> In February 1965 he started work at the Ford Foundation, as a program officer for West Africa.<ref name=":1" /> He spent the next nine years living in various parts of Africa with his family while his job location changed, places like Kenya, Maghreb, Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia.<ref name=":1" /> In 1977, president Jimmy Carter asked Le Melle to serve as Ambassador of the United States to the Republic of Kenya and the Seychelles.{{citation needed|date=March 2024}}
From 1981 to 1985, he served as vice-chancellor of the State University of New York. In 1985, he was appointed as president of Mercy College, now Mercy University, in New York<ref>{{Cite news |title=TimesMachine: Sunday June 30, 1985 - NYTimes.com |language=en |work=The New York Times |url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.comhttp//timesmachine.content-tagging.us-east-1-01.prd.dvsp.nyt.net/timesmachine/1985/06/30/issue.html |access-date=2023-09-29}}</ref> From 1990 to 2000, he served as President of the Phelps Stokes Fund.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bragg |first=Susan |date=2015-06-12 |title=Wilbert J. LeMelle Sr. (1931-2003) • |url=https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/lemelle-wilbert-j-sr-1931-2003/ |access-date=2023-09-29 |language=en-US}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{s-start}} {{s-dip}} {{succession box|title=United States Ambassador to Kenya|before=Anthony D. Marshall|after=William Caldwell Harrop|years=1977–1980}} {{succession box|title=United States Ambassador to Seychelles|before=Anthony D. Marshall|after=William Caldwell Harrop|years=1977–1980}} {{s-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Le Melle, Wilbert J.}} Category:1931 births Category:2003 deaths Category:Ambassadors of the United States to Kenya Category:African-American diplomats Category:People from New Iberia, Louisiana Category:University of Denver alumni Category:Grambling State University faculty Category:Boston University faculty Category:Notre Dame Seminary alumni Category:Mercy University faculty Category:Ambassadors of the United States to Seychelles Category:Heads of universities and colleges in the United States Category:20th-century African-American people Category:21st-century African-American people Category:20th-century American diplomats Category:20th-century American academics
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