Ruth A. Davis

Ruth A. Davis
24th Director General of the Foreign Service
In office June 15, 2001 – June 30, 2003
Preceded by	Marc Isaiah Grossman
Succeeded by	W. Robert Pearson
Personal details
Born	(1943-05-28)May 28, 1943 Phoenix, Arizona, U.S.
Died	May 3, 2025(2025-05-03) (aged 81) Washington, D.C., U.S.
Education	Spelman College UC Berkeley

Ruth Amy Davis (May 28, 1943 – May 3, 2025) was an American diplomat. Davis served as the 24th director general of the United States Foreign Service. She was the first woman of color to be appointed Director General of the Foreign Service and the first African-American Director of the Foreign Service Institute. In 2002, she became a career member of the Senior Foreign Service and a Career Ambassador. She was the Chief of Staff of the Africa Bureau of the U.S. Department of State.

Early life

Born May 28, 1943, in Phoenix, Arizona, but raised primarily in the southern United States, Davis experienced the separation of whites and blacks in her youth and would later recall family vacations with her parents in which many restaurants and public services were off limits to African–Americans. She graduated magna cum laude from Spelman College and received her Master's Degree from the University of California at Berkeley. As a Merrill Scholar at Spelman, Davis studied abroad in Europe and the Middle East.

Diplomat and ambassador

In 2001, Davis was appointed by President George W. Bush to the post of Director General of the Foreign Service. Prior to assuming this position, Davis served as director of the Foreign Service Institute from 1977 to 2001.

Davis also served as the Principal Deputy Director Assistant Secretary for Consular Affairs (1995–1997), as consul general in Spain and was the U.S. Ambassador to Benin from 1992 to 1995. She later served as Distinguished Advisor at the Ralph Bunche International Affairs Center at Howard University from 2003 until 2005.

Davis joined the Foreign Service in 1969 as Consular Officer in Zaire and between 1971 until 1980 she went on to serve in consular affairs in Nairobi, Kenya, Tokyo, Japan and Naples, Italy. She returned to the United States as a Pearson Fellow in Washington, DC.

Davis is credited with improving the District's involvement in the international, economic and diplomatic arenas. She is also credited with her contributions to the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games and to Atlanta's successful bid for the 1996 Olympics.

Described as a "Diplomatic Pioneer", Davis worked diligently to increase diversity among the ranks of the international diplomatic corps. During her tenure, she was successful in attracting more diverse people into the Foreign Service.

In 2016, Ruth A. Davis was presented the Lifetime Contributions to American Diplomacy Award by the American Foreign Service Association.

Davis served as the Chairwoman of the International Women's Entrepreneurial Challenge (IWEC) from 2006–2023. Since 2022, Ambassador Ruth A. Davis had served as the Co-Chairwoman of the ACE Global Leaders of Excellence Network.

Later life and death

Davis died in Washington, D.C. at the age of 81 on May 3, 2025, from pneumonia.

Awards

• Honorary Doctor of Laws Spelman College (1998)
• U.S. State Department Arnold L. Raphel Memorial Award (1999)
• U.S. State Department Superior Honor Award (1999)
• Presidential Distinguished Service Award (President Bill Clinton) (1999)
• Honorary Doctor of Laws Middlebury College (2000)
• Presidential Distinguished Service Award (President George W. Bush) (2002)
• U.S. Secretary of State Achievement Award (2003)
• U.S. State Department Equal Employment Opportunity Award (2005)

External links

• Foreign Service Journal article on her Lifetime Contributions to American Diplomacy Award.
• Appearances on C-SPAN