Zurhellen, J. Owen (Joseph Owen), 1920-1990

Joseph Owen Zurhellen Jr. was born to Joseph Owen and Dorrial Bernadette (Levy) in New York City on July 8, 1920. He married Helen Audrey Millar on December 19, 1942, and graduated from Columbia University the following year. He entered the Japanese Language School in Boulder, Colorado in 1942, and graduated the following year. He served as 2nd and 1st Lt. in the US Marine Corps from 1943-1946, remaining on the Marine Corps reserve until his retirement at the rank of Captain. Between 1946 and 1947 he was employed as the General Manager of export/import at the Universal Sales Company of New York. He returned to Japan in 1947 as a Foreign Service Officer, and served in a sequence of Diplomatic/ Counsular posts beginning with a position in Yokohama from 1948-50. He served as Consul to Fukuoka from 1950-53 and returned to Yokohama for one year in 1954. He held the post of Second Secretary, American Embassy in Tokyo from 1948-56, then served as staff assistant to Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs. He was assigned to the National War College from 1959-60, and was the Deputy Principle Officer American Consulate in Munich, Germany from 1960-62. He returned to Japan as Department Secretary at the American Embassy in Tokyo, Japan from 1962-63. The following year, he was appointed American Consul General in Kobe and Osaka, Japan from 1963-64, which was followed by service as the Counselor of Embassy at the American Embassy in Tokyo from 1964-66. In 1968 he served as Department Chief Mission Embassy to Tel Aviv, Israel, a post which he held until 1973. After which time he was stationed in Washington, D.C. as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian Affairs, from 1974–1976. Capt. Zurhellen was then the first United States Ambassador to Surinam (formerly Dutch Guiana), and served there from 1976 until his retirement from government service in 1978. Following this retirement, he became a director of the Foreign Policy Association and taught political science at Manhattanville College in New York until his death on November 5, 1990. He had five children: Joseph Owen III, William, Robert, David, and Stephanie Jo.

From the guide to the J. Owen Zurhellen Jr. Collection, 1942-1990, (University of Colorado at Boulder Libraries. Archives Dept.)