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Higher Office(s) Served: Ambassador

RICHARD F. CELESTE was born in Cleveland, Ohio. He graduated magna cum laude from Yale University, where he remained for one additional year as a Carnegie Teaching Fellow. In 1961 he went to Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. He returned to Yale in 1963 for graduate study, working as curriculum advisor and part-time civics teacher. He then accepted a six-month assignment as a staff liaison with the Peace Corps's Division of Volunteer Support to Latin America. Celeste also served as Executive Assistant to the U.S. Ambassador to India under President John F. Kennedy. In 1967 he joined the National Housing Corporation in Cleveland. His career in politics began in 1970 when he was elected to the first of two terms in the Ohio House of Representatives. He was then elected Lieutenant Governor, serving from 1974 to 1978, after which he won appointment as Director of the Peace Corps under President Jimmy Carter. He went back to Ohio from Washington two years later to mount his successful campaign for the governorship. While governor, Celeste chaired the Democratic Governors' Association. After leaving office, he became a managing partner in the consulting firm of Celeste & Sabety, Ltd. in Columbus. However, he soon returned to the world of public service as U.S. Ambassador to India under President Bill Clinton, serving from 1997 until 2001. The following year he was inaugurated the 12th President of Colorado College in Colorado Springs.

SOURCES:

The John Glenn Institute for Public Service and Public Policy

Colorado College

Who's Who in America, 2006. New Providence, NJ: Marquis' Who's Who, 2005.