Laurence Pope, veteran diplomat and top envoy to Libya after Benghazi attack, dies at 75

Laurence Pope, a veteran diplomat and counterterrorism expert who came out of retirement to serve as the top U.S. envoy to Libya, weeks after the 2012 attack that killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans in Benghazi, died Oct. 31 at his home in Portland, Maine. He was 75. The cause was pancreatic cancer, said his wife, Elizabeth Pope.

In his 31 years as a diplomat, Pope helped shape Iran and Iraq policy at the State Department, was appointed ambassador to Chad by President Bill Clinton and served as political adviser to Gen. Anthony Zinni, head of Central Command, which manages U.S. forces in the Middle East.

He had been retired for more than a decade when Islamist militants launched an assault on the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi on Sept. 11, 2012. The attack marked the first time a U.S. ambassador was killed in the line of duty since 1979 and ignited a fierce political debate over the security of American personnel overseas.