Fred Latimer Hadsel

Fred Latimer Hadsel, 94, of Lexington, Va., a retired United States Ambassador and Director of the George C. Marshall Foundation, died on Sunday, April 11, 2010, at his home. He had lived in Lexington since 1974. He was preceded in death by his wife of 66 years, Winifred Nelson Hadsel, in 2009. He was born on March 11, 1916, in Oxford, Ohio, the son of the late Fred Latimer Hadsel and Mary Perine Hadsel. He earned his undergraduate degree (Phi Beta Kappa) at Miami University where his father was a professor of Latin. He held a master's degree in history and international relations from Clark University in Massachusetts and a doctoral degree in European history from the University of Chicago. He joined the Department of State in 1946, later entering the Foreign Service. He served as First Secretary for African Affairs in London, Deputy Chief of Mission in Ethiopia, Ambassador in Somalia and Ambassador in Ghana, retiring in 1974. He was Director of the George Marshall Foundation from 1974 to 1985. He is survived by his three daughters, Christine Hadsel, of Burlington, Vt., Winifred "Kit" Hadsel Huffman, of Lexington, and Jane Hadsel Spooner, of London, England; and six grandchildren. The funeral will be held 3 p.m. on Friday, April 16, 2010, at R.E. Lee Episcopal Memorial Church, Lexington. Arrangements by Harrison Funeral Home and Crematory, Lexington, Va.