Ortiz, Frank V., 1926-

Frank V. Ortiz was born in Santa Fe, NM on 14 March 1926. Following his graduation from high school, Mr. Ortiz served as a liaison officer in the U.S. Senate from 1943 until his enlistment in the U.S. Army Air Force in 1944.

He is a graduate of the School of Foreign Service of Georgetown University and of the George Washington University where he obtained a Master of Science Degree. He also attended the University of Madrid, the American University of Beirut and the University of New Mexico.

After passing the Foreign Service examinations, Mr. Ortiz began service with the Department of State in January 1951. He served in Egypt, Ethiopia, Mexico, before returning to Washington D.C. in 1960 when he became Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of Inter-American Affairs . In 1961-63, Mr. Ortiz was chief negotiator of the Chamizal border problem settlement, involving a land dispute with Mexico in El Paso, Texas.

Mr. Ortiz, then served in Spain, at the National War College, in Peru and Uruguay before being appointed Ambassador to Barbados and Grenada in 1977. In 1979 he became Ambassador to Guatemala and left that post in 1980 to become Political Advisor at the United States Southern Command in Panama. In 1981 Mr. Ortiz was appointed ambassador to Peru and in 1883 to Argentina.

Mr. Ortiz was married to Dolores Duke and had four children. Mr. Ortiz passed away in February 2005 in Santa Fe.

Frank V. Ortiz presents his credentials to Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia.

From the guide to the Frank V. Ortiz Collection, 1930s-2005, (New Mexico History Museum, Fray Angélico Chávez History Library)