Sir Roy Denman

SIR ROY DENMAN, HEAD OF WASHINGTON DELEGATION, 1982 – 1989, DIES AT 81

Sir Roy Denman, veteran diplomat and EU trade negotiator, died of respiratory failure in London--where he lived--on April 4 at the age of 81.

Born on June 12, 1924 in Liverpool, Sir Roy was educated at Cambridge University, served in the Royal Signals Corps, held positions of considerable responsibility in the UK Board of Trade, served in several UK embassies and was a key member of the UK delegation negotiating his country’s entry into the then European Community. For his role in GATT negotiations and other contributions, he was knighted in 1976. In 1977 he was appointed as the European Commission’s Director General for External Relations, in this capacity, its chief negotiator in the Tokyo Round of GATT.

When he was tapped to lead the Delegation of the European Commission to the US in 1982, Denman was already on first-name terms with many Washington officials, especially among the DC trade fraternity. His tenure was marked by a particularly prickly series of trade disputes on issues from steel to pasta. Well versed in American history and politics, Sir Roy made a point of going beyond the Washington Beltway and managed to speak in all fifty US states during his time as Ambassador.

Upon leaving his Washington post, Denman became a Business Fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. In 1996, Sir Roy penned Missed Chances: Britain and Europe in the Twentieth Century. His autobiography, The Mandarin’s Tale, appeared in 2002.

He was married for thirty-nine years to the former Moya Lade. They had a son, James, and a daughter, Julia. All survive Sir Roy and live in London.

Read the obituary published in the News Telegraph, April 8, 2006.