Richard Armitage

Richard L. Armitage, who served as the No. 2 official at the State Department from 2001 to 2005, during the turbulent era of the 9/11 attacks and the start of America’s retaliatory wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, died on Sunday. April 13 2025. He was 79. Armitage served as a director of ManTech since 2005. From 1995 to 2001, Since 2005, Armitage served as president of Armitage International, L.C., which provides multinational clients with critical support in the areas of international business development, strategic planning, and problem-solving. From 2001 through 2005 he served as the Deputy Secretary of State, and prior to that assignment, he was president of Armitage Associates, L.C., a world-wide business and public policy firm. Beginning in the late 1980's, Armitage held a variety of high-ranking diplomatic positions, including as Presidential Special Negotiator for the Philippines Military Bases Agreement; as Special Mediator for Water in the Middle East; as a Special Emissary to Jordan's King Hussein during the 1991 Gulf War; and as an Ambassador, directing U.S. assistance to the new independent states of the former Soviet Union. Armitage was also a former Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, and a former Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asia and Pacific Affairs. Mr. Armitage has received numerous U.S. military decorations, and has been awarded the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service four times, and has received the Presidential Citizens Medal and the Department of State Distinguished Honor Award. In 2005, he was awarded a KBE and became a Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George. Mr. Armitage was also appointed as an honorary companion to the Order of Australia (Australian Knighthood) and an honorary companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit. Mr. Armitage currently serves on the board of directors of Transcu, Ltd., and ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP), which is one of the largest integrated energy companies in the United States. Armitage was born on April 26, 1945, in Wellesley, Mass., and grew up in Atlanta. He graduated from St. Pius X Catholic High School there in 1963. Following his graduation from the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., he served on a destroyer off the coast of Vietnam. His survivors include his wife, Laura (Samford) Armitage; eight children; a brother and a sister; and 12 grandchildren. He and his wife were also foster parents of many children.