Richard Holbrooke: Consummate diplomat

WASHINGTON, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- Richard Holbrooke, who spent a half-century in public service and was hailed as a giant in diplomacy, has died in a Washington hospital at the age of 69.

Holbrooke, a top-ranking American diplomat, was the only person to have been an assistant secretary of state for two different regions of the world -- Asia from 1977 to 1981 and Europe from 1994 to 1996.

At the time he died, Holbrooke was the special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan for U.S. President Barack Obama. He was tapped in January 2009 to oversee a multifaceted U.S. strategy, which he characterized as helping to coordinate a "chaotic foreign assistance program" working with the military and others to "create a more coherent program."

Holbrooke is best known when he and with former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt, brokered a peace agreement that ended the Bosnian conflict and led to the signing of the Dayton Peace Accords in 1995.

He advised Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., when he ran for president in 2004, then joined the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton and became a top foreign policy adviser for the woman who became secretary of state under Obama.

Holbrooke died Monday at George Washington University Hospital following two operations -- including one lasting more than 20 hours to repair a torn aorta -- after he became ill Friday during a meeting with Clinton. He underwent a second surgical procedure Sunday to improve circulation to his legs.

Family members said that as Holbrooke was sedated for surgery, his final words to his surgeon were, "You've got to stop this war in Afghanistan," The Washington Post said.

Bloomberg News Bureau Chief Al Hunt called Holbrooke "the most extraordinary diplomat I ever met, and the most engaging," Politico reported.

Even if Holbrooke had a "colossal ego," Hunt said, there is "an expression of Texas: It ain't bragging if you can do it."

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said intelligence drove Holbrooke's success.

"(He) was very smart -- intelligence is an extraordinary asset, (that is) rarer than it should be," Greenspan said.

Holbrooke, a native New Yorker, entered foreign service in 1963, when he began six years of service in and on Vietnam, a biography posted on Wikipedia.org indicated. He has been involved in U.S. foreign policy either within the State Department or as a private citizen serving as a special envoy for several presidents. He also was a U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, succeeding Bill Richardson in August 1999.

Holbrooke married for the third time in 1995 to author and journalist Kati Marton. He is survived by Marton, two sons, David Holbrooke and Anthony Holbrooke and their families; and two stepchildren, Christopher and Elizabeth Jennings.