James LU LANGLEY

LU LANGLEY, James Coningsby
C.M., M.A., Ph.D.
1922 - 2015
Soldier, Diplomat, Scholar, Father
Beloved husband of Ling Lu and loving father of Vanessa and Jimmy, Jim died in Ottawa Thursday, December 24, at the Perley and Rideau Veterans' Health Centre at the age of 93. Born in Ottawa on May 1, 1922, to James A. Langley and Ordelia Langley (Conn), Jim spent ten memorable years of his youth in Kobe and Tokyo, where his father, a member of the first Canadian legation to Japan, was a trade commissioner. Jim was educated at the German School, Omori, in Japan; at Ashbury College, Ottawa; Cheltenham College in England, and at Oxford University (M.A., First Class Honours), followed by a master's degree at the University of Toronto. During World War II, Jim served in the British Army (King's Royal Rifle Corps) in the U.K. and the Far East. He joined the Canadian Foreign Service in 1950. As a career diplomat he served in many capacities, including Assistant Under-Secretary, Ambassador to Belgium, Luxembourg and the ECC, as well as Ambassador to Mexico and Guatemala, and Canadian Permanent Representative to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris. Retiring from the public service, he immersed himself in Meso-American culture, earning a Ph.D. in archaeology from the University of London and becoming a world expert on the pre-Columbian civilization of Teotihuacan in Mexico. He was the first to decode the communication symbols used at Teotihuacan and was the author of many scholarly publications. Jim was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2003, and was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012. He was a member of the Retired Heads of Mission Association, Co- founder of the Canadian Society for Meso- American Studies, and a Director of the Canadian Mediterranean Institute. A keen fly fisherman, he was a member of the White Pine Fishing Club. Jim was predeceased by his sister, Lorna Langley. He will be deeply missed by friends and family but his wonderful sense of humour, his strength, knowledge, and love will long remain with us. Friends are invited to a Celebration of Life at Beechwood, Funeral, Cemetery and Cremation Services, 280 Beechwood Avenue, Ottawa, on Saturday, January 9, 2016 from 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Private family interment to take place at a later date, at Beechwood Cemetery. Messages of Condolence may be left at
www.beechwoodottawa.ca