Ralph Earle (ambassador)

Ambassador Ralph Earle II was director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency between 1980 and 1981, and was also deputy director at the agency from 1994 to 1999. From 1978 to 1979 he served as the United States' chief negotiator at the SALT II round of talks on nuclear disarmament. Earle, a key architect of several major international arms control accords, died on January 13, 2020.   Born in Bryn Mawr, PA, on September 26, 1928, he was the son of the former Governor of Pennsylvania, George H. Earle III and Huberta Potter Earle Sheaffer.  

Biography

Earle attended Episcopal Academy and graduated from Deerfield Academy. He was a graduate of Harvard College, where he was a member of The Fly Club, and Harvard Law School and served in the United States Army. Earle is a descendant of the Van Leer family of Pennsylvania. His paternal second great-grandfather was family patriarch Samuel Van Leer and his second great-uncle was general Anthony Wayne.[1] He was a member of the First Troop Philadelphia City Cavalry. Following law school and a clerkship with Federal Judge Bailey Aldrich, he worked for the law firm of Morgan, Lewis and Bockius where he become a partner.  In 1968, he was appointed to be Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, beginning a career in public service that spanned four decades and during which he served under five Presidents.  

In 1978, Earle was appointed by President Jimmy Carter as the United States' chief negotiator at the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT II) with the Soviets and given the rank of Ambassador where he led the US team in negotiating the SALT II treaty. He then served as Director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (ACDA) from 1980 to 1981. He later re-joined ACDA from 1994 to 1999 as its Deputy Director.  Prior to his involvement in arms control, Ambassador Earle also served as the Defense Advisor to the US Mission to NATO from 1969 to 1972. He was a member of the American Law Institute, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the International Institute for Strategic Studies. In 2009, Ambassador Earle was awarded Deerfield Academy's Heritage Award[2]—which recognizes "an alumnus/a whose professional and personal achievements represent a special contribution to the betterment of society."[3] He is a member of the Earle family.

Earle was married twice and is survived by his second wife, Julie von Sternberg Earle. His first marriage was to Eleanor Forbes Owens Earle. They had five children: Eleanor Earle Mascheroni, of New York, NY, Ralph Earle III of Boston, MA, Duncan Owens Earle of Lusaka, Zambia, Amanda Earle Ciccarelli of Bloomington, IN, and Caroline Earle Walsh of Barrington, RI.  He had nine grandchildren: Olivia, Isabella and Rex Mascheroni; Elizabeth and Thomas Earle; David and Henry Earle; and Emily and Ethan Walsh.

References
  1. "Pennsylvania Society of Sons of the Revolution".
  2. "2009 Heritage Award: Ralph Earle '46."
  3. Deerfield Academy Visions and Initiative page.
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