Edward Mortimer (22 December 1943 – 18 June 2021) was a UN civil servant, journalist, author and academic. He was Distinguished Fellow of

All Souls College All Souls College (official name: The College of All Souls of the Faithful Departed, of Oxford) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Unique to All Souls, all of its members automatically become fellows (i.e., full me ...

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

, from 2013. From 2001 to 2006, he was the Director of Communications in the Executive Office of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

Secretary-General Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, Power (social and political), power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the org ...

Kofi Annan Kofi Atta Annan (8 April 193818 August 2018) was a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh secretary-general of the United Nations from 1997 to 2006. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize. He was the founder a ...

and was the chief speechwriter from 1998 to 2006. He was the chair of the

Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice is an international, non profit, human rights group founded in 2009 to seek justice for thousands of Tamils killed during the final stages of the Sri Lankan Civil War and promote lasting peace. Charu Lat ...

from 2010 to 2015 and one of the key people integral to the creation of the Campaign. Mortimer was appointed

Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince of Wales (the future King George IV), while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George I ...

(CMG) in the 2010 New Year Honours.

Early life and education

Edward Mortimer was born in

Burford Burford () is a town on the River Windrush, in the Cotswold hills, in the West Oxfordshire district of Oxfordshire, England. It is often referred to as the 'gateway' to the Cotswolds. Burford is located west of Oxford and southeast of Chelt ...

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...

, the son of Robert Mortimer, Regius Professor of Moral Theology at Christ Church, Oxford and later

Bishop of Exeter The Bishop of Exeter is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Exeter in the Province of Canterbury. The current bishop is Mike Harrison (bishop), Mike Harrison, since 2024. From the first bishop until the sixteent ...

and his wife Mary. Mortimer was a scholar at

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

and studied history at

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1263 by nobleman John I de Balliol, it has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford and the English-speaking world. With a governing body of a master and aro ...

, from 1962 to 1965, graduating with a

congratulatory first The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure used for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied, sometimes with significant var ...

, and was a Prize Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford, from 1965 to 1972. In 1963, during his time at Balliol, he was part of the team that reached the final of the first series of ''

University Challenge ''University Challenge'' is a British television quiz programme which first aired in 1962. ''University Challenge'' aired for 913 episodes on ITV from 21 September 1962 to 31 December 1987, presented by quizmaster Bamber Gascoigne. The BBC ...

'', losing to Leicester University.

Career

Before university Mortimer went to Senegal to do Voluntary Service Overseas, and taught English for a short period in a lycée in St Louis. After leaving Oxford he went to Paris to do research for a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

, but set it aside in 1967 when he was hired as a reporter in The Times Paris office. He returned to Oxford in 1970 to write a book on the

French Communist Party The French Communist Party (, , PCF) is a Communism, communist list of political parties in France, party in France. The PCF is a member of the Party of the European Left, and its Member of the European Parliament, MEPs sit with The Left in the ...

. During his time in Paris he documented the student riots and the last days of Charles de Gaulle's presidency. Left-leaning in his politics, he later reflected that "For me, May 1968 was certainly the high point of the Sixties." He went on to become a columnist and leader writer for ''The Times'' and foreign affairs editor for the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

''. Between 2007 and 2012 he was Senior Vice President of the

Salzburg Global Seminar Salzburg Global (formerly known as Salzburg Global Seminar) is a non-profit organization that convenes programs on its five pillar topics of Peace and Justice, Education, Culture, Health, and Finance and Governance. Programs regularly occur at Sc ...

and was a member of the Advisory Council of

Independent Diplomat Independent Diplomat is a non-profit non-governmental organisation founded in 2004 by British former diplomat Carne Ross and currently led by Reza Afshar OBE. It is a non-profit diplomatic advisory group that strives to create more inclusive, just ...

Personal life

Mortimer married painter and sculptor Elizabeth Zanetti in

Exeter Exeter ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter w ...

in 1968; together they had four children. He died of cancer on 18 June 2021, aged 77.

Selected bibliography

#''France and the Africans, 1944-60: A Political History'' Faber & Faber, 1969. #''Faith and Power, the politics of Islam'' Random House, New York, 1982. #''Roosevelt's Children: Tomorrow's World Leaders and Their World'' Hamish Hamilton Ltd, 1987. #''The World That FDR Built: Vision and Reality'' Scribner, 1989.

References

External links

Biography at UNA-UK
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mortimer, Edward 1943 births 2021 deaths Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford British male journalists British officials of the United Nations Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George Fellows of All Souls College, Oxford Financial Times people People educated at Eton College People from Burford The Times journalists Deaths from cancer