Heins, Samuel D., 1947-

Samuel D. Heins (born May 31, 1947) is the former United States Ambassador to Norway. The wait for confirmation of a new ambassador by the United States Senate led to the Embassy being without a Senate-confirmed Ambassador for 29 months. He succeeded Barry B. White, who had resigned the position in 2013. He was confirmed by the Senate on February 12, 2016, and presented his credentials to Harald V of Norway on March 10, 2016. He served until January 12, 2017.

While his father taught at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana, Heins attended the university’s Laboratory School, graduating in 1964. He then went on to the University of Minnesota, where he was an editor, along with future A Prairie Home Companion star Garrison Keillor and others, of the undergraduate literary magazine. Heins earned a BA in 1968 and his JD in 1972, then clerked for U.S. District Judge Earl Larson in Minneapolis until 1973, when he became an associate at the Firestone Law Firm.

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