Philo Louis Dibble (September 10, 1951 – October 1, 2011) was an American diplomat.

Early life

Dibble was born on September 10, 1951, in

Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

. He was named for his father, Philo Tolman Dibble, who was also a diplomat. Dibble attended the

Sidwell Friends School Sidwell Friends School is a private, college preparatory, Quaker school located in Bethesda, Maryland, and Washington, D.C., offering pre-kindergarten through high school classes. Founded in 1883 by Thomas W. Sidwell, its motto is ' (), alludi ...

and graduated from the Woodrow Wilson High School. He graduated from St. John's College in 1976. He went to graduate school at

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

, where he earned a master's degree in international studies in 1980.

Career

Dibble joined the

United States Foreign Service The United States Foreign Service is the primary personnel system used by the diplomatic service of the United States federal government, under the aegis of the United States Department of State. It consists of over 13,000 professionals carr ...

in 1980. He served as a diplomat in

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

and

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

. He served in Lebanon shortly after the

1983 United States embassy bombing The April 18, 1983, United States Embassy bombing was a suicide bombing on the Embassy of the United States, Beirut, Embassy of the United States in Beirut, Lebanon, that killed 32 Lebanese, 17 Americans, and 14 visitors and passers-by. The vict ...

. He was retired from 2006 to 2010. Dibble returned to the Foreign Service in September 2010, when he was appointed as the deputy assistant secretary of state for

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

for the

Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs The Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs (NEA), also known as the Bureau of Near East Asian Affairs, is an agency of the Department of State within the United States government that deals with U.S. foreign policy and diplomatic relations with the nati ...

. Dibble was instrumental in the release, in September 2011, of two American hikers who had been held in Iran for two years.

Shane Bauer Shane Bauer is an American journalist, best known for his undercover reporting for ''Mother Jones'' magazine. He has won several awards including the Harvard's Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting and the National Magazine Award for Best ...

and Joshua Fattal were released from Iranian capture after two years in September 2011. Dibble, along with a team of

U.S. Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs o ...

officials negotiated their release. He used his connections with diplomats from Oman and Switzerland to secure their release.

Personal life and death

Dibble was married to Elizabeth Dibble, née Elizabeth Link. They had three daughters. They resided in

McLean, Virginia McLean ( ) is an Unincorporated area#United States, unincorporated community and census-designated place in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. The population of the community was 50,773 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is ...

. Dibble died of a heart attack on October 1, 2011, aged 60. His funeral, held at the Holy Trinity Catholic Church, was attended by hundreds of people, including U.S. Secretary of State,

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dibble, Philo 1951 births 2011 deaths People from McLean, Virginia Johns Hopkins University alumni 20th-century American diplomats 21st-century American diplomats