Charles A. Gillespie, Jr.

Charles Anthony “Tony” Gillespie, Jr. (March 22, 1935 – March 7, 2008) was a former United States career diplomat who helped to open the first United States Embassy in Grenada. He later served as the United States Ambassador to Colombia and the United States Ambassador to Chile.

Gillespie spent over thirty years in the United States foreign service as a specialist in Latin American and Caribbean affairs. Many of his foreign assignments were to Latin American countries experiencing domestic strife. For example, Gillespie served as the interim Chargé d'Affaires during the 1983 United States Invasion of Grenada as well as in Colombia from 1985 until 1988, when the government sought to crack down on the Illegal drug trade in Colombia and the Colombian drug cartels. Gillespie often received daily death threats from the Colombian cartels.

Early life

Charles A. Gillespie Jr. was born on March 22, 1935, in Long Beach, California. He received his degree from UCLA in 1958. He later studied at the Maxwell School of Public Affairs at Syracuse University and the National War College in Washington, D.C.