Nomination of Robert P. Paganelli To Be United States Ambassador to Syria

The President today announced his intention to nominate Robert P. Paganelli, of New York, to be Ambassador to the Syrian Arab Republic, vice Talcott W. Seelye.

Mr. Paganelli entered the Foreign Service in 1958 as intelligence research specialist in the Department. He attended Arabic language training in the Department and in Beirut in 1959-61. He was Foreign Service officer-general in Basra (1961-62) and in Baghdad (1962-63). He was economic officer in Beirut (1963-65), political officer in Damascus (1965-67) and in Amman (1967-68). In 1968-71 he was in the Department as desk officer for Jordan, then personnel officer. He was political officer in Rome in 1971-74 and Ambassador to the State of Qatar in 1974-77. He attended the Executive Seminar in National and International Affairs at the Foreign Service Institute in 1977-78 and was Director of the Office of Western European Affairs in 1978-79. Since 1979 he has been Deputy Chief of Mission in Rome.

Mr. Paganelli graduated from Hamilton College (B.A.). He served in the United States Air Force in 1951-54. He is married, has two children, and resides in Albion, N.Y. He was born November 3, 1931, in New York, N.Y.