Over a career with the U.S. Foreign Service that spanned four decades, Alvin Adams made his influence felt in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Africa, South America and the Caribbean. He continued his itinerant ways in retirement with busy stops in New York, Hawaii, Argentina and Oregon.
Adams died of an apparent heart attack Oct. 10 in Portland, Ore., at 73.
Adams, who held a bachelor’s degree from Yale University and a juris doctor degree from Vanderbilt University Law School, joined the Foreign Service in 1968, serving as a district senior adviser in Vietnam.
He held several posts over the next 15 years, including National Security Council staff member, special assistant to multiple secretaries of state (including Alexander Haig and Henry Kissinger), financial economist with the Office of Development Finance, and special assistant for public affairs for the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs.
In 1983 he was appointed ambassador to the Republic of Djibouti, one of three ambassadorships he held before the age of 50.
After serving as deputy director for counterterrorism from 1986 to 1989, Adams was named ambassador to Haiti. While there he managed the U.S. Embassy during the presidential election of 1990 and the subsequent military coup that deposed Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
Adams worked with the Venezuelan ambassador to arrange safe transport out of the country for Aristide. He received a State Department Citation with Award for Valor for his service in Haiti.
After a final three-year stint as ambassador to Peru, Adams retired in 1996. He then served as president and CEO of the United Nations Association of the United States of America until 1999.
Adams moved to Hawaii later that year and quickly engaged with his adopted community. He became a familiar voice to radio listeners as the host of Hawai‘i Public Radio’s “Business Beyond the Reef” talk show. He also served as assistant to the president of international affairs at Bishop Museum, honorary consul of Peru in Hawaii, chairman of the Pacific Club’s membership committee and lecturer in peace studies and international relations at Tokai International College.
After leaving Hawaii in 2009, Adams spent two years in Argentina and then settled in Portland, where he remained active as a member of the World Affairs Council advisory committee and Oregon Consular Corps.
Adams is survived by son Lex, brother Nathan and sister Edith Kiggen.
