Former ambassador and public servant Allan Gotlieb dies at 92 in Toronto

TORONTO — Allan Gotlieb, a long-time public servant who was Canada’s ambassador to the United States during the Reagan administration, has died.

He was 92.

A death notice says Gotlieb died of cancer and Parkinson’s disease at his home in Toronto on Saturday.

A long-time public servant and companion of the Order of Canada, Gotlieb became deputy minister of the department of communications in 1968 and was later named deputy minister of manpower and immigration.

He became the ambassador to the United States in 1981, and held the position throughout Ronald Reagan’s administration.

Gotlieb penned five books, including “The Washington Diaries,” recounting his time in the U.S. capital.

He is survived by his wife, Sondra Gotlieb, an award-winning writer and journalist who had a regular column in the Washington Post before becoming a columnist for the Globe and Mail and the National Post. The pair married in 1955 in Winnipeg.

Gotlieb was a Rhodes scholar and graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Oxford and Harvard University.

He also leaves behind his sister Judith Shotten, his daughter Rachel and son Marc, along with six grandchildren.

He is predeceased by his daughter Rebecca.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 20, 2020.

The Canadian Press