Richard Nolte, ex-envoy to Egypt, dies

HANOVER, N.H., Dec. 4 (UPI) -- Richard Nolte, whose brief career as U.S. ambassador to Egypt ended when he was expelled during the Six-Day War, has died at 86.

Nolte's brother told The New York Times he died Nov. 22 at home in Hanover, N.H., after suffering a stroke.

President Lyndon Johnson named Nolte ambassador to the United Arab Republic, a short-lived union of Egypt and Syria. While Nolte was a controversial choice in the United States because he was perceived as pro-Muslim, President Gamal Abdel Nasser refused to receive him.

Soon after Nolte's arrival in Cairo May 21, 1967, the war broke out. After three weeks as ambassador, he was expelled the day before a cease-fire.

Nolte, who studied Muslim culture and law as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, served as head of the Institute of Current World Affairs before and after his abortive diplomatic career. He later headed the American Geographic Society.

In 1972, he inadvertently made history as part of the first mixed party to eat in the Men's Grill at the Princeton Club. Nolte, a Yale alumnus, did not realize the ban on women had been lifted four days earlier.