O'KEEFFE, (Peter) Laurence 1931-2003

(Laurence Halley)

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born July 9, 1931, in Liverpool, England; died May 2, 2003. Ambassador, diplomat, and author. O'Keeffe held numerous diplomatic posts around the world in his work for the British Foreign and Commonwealth office, and is best remembered for his service as an ambassador to Prague during the Velvet Revolution. After spending World War II as a child in Canada, O'Keeffe was educated at St. Francis Xavier's College and Oxford University, where he earned a B.A. in 1953. He then entered Britain's civil service in the Customs and Excise Department, moving on to the diplomatic service in 1962 and holding posts in Jakarta, Indonesia; Athens, Greece; and Bangkok, Thailand. From 1976 to 1978 he was head of British Information Services in New York City, followed by three years in Cyprus, another three years as ambassador to Senegal, and then a return to England in 1985. While working in Vienna in 1988, he was transferred to Prague; the following year a revolution broke out in Czechoslovakia that saw the end of communist rule and the installment of poet Vaclav Havel as president. While in Prague, O'Keeffe was instrumental in improving relations between England and Czechoslovakia and encouraging foreign investment in that country. He retired in 1991 and spent his remaining years gardening and giving tours of the Salisbury Cathedral as a volunteer. Besides his long and distinguished diplomatic service to his country, for which he was decorated companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George and commander of the Royal Victorian Order, O'Keeffe was also an author who wrote under the pen name Laurence Halley. His books include two novels, Simultaneous Equations (1965) and Abiding City (1986), and a nonfiction work on foreign policy, Ancient Affections (1984).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Daily Telegraph (London, England), June 12, 2003.

Times (London, England), May 9, 2003, p. 38.