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A TRIBUTE TO AND THANKSGIVING FOR BARBARA M. WATSON

Barbara M. Watson Is Dead; Former U.S. Diplomat Was 64

Special to the New York Times

WASHINGTON, Feb. 17 — Barbara M. Watson, the first black and the first woman named an Assistant Secretary of State, died at a hospital here today, it was announced. She was 64 years old. 

Miss Watson joined the State Department in 1966 as special assistant to the Deputy Under Secretary of State for Administration. From 1966 to 1968 she was deputy and Acting Administrator of the Bureau of Security and Consular Affairs.

Served as Ambassador to Malaysia

In July 1968 she was appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson to be Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Security and Consular Affairs. She left her State Department post in November 1974, when President Ford accepted her resignation. The Nixon Administration had sought earlier to replace Miss Watson, a Democrat, with a Republican appointee.  She was eventually succeeded by Leonard F. Walentynowicz, a Republican lawyer from Buffalo.

From 1975 to 1977 she was a lecturer at colleges and universities and a legal consultant for Triangle Publications.

In January 1977, President Carter named Miss Watson administrator for the Bureau of Security and Consular Affairs. She was appointed Ambassador to Malaysia by Mr. Carter in 1980. She retired from that post in 1981.

Miss Watson was born in New York City on Nov. 5, 1918. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1943 from Barnard College and her law degree in 1962 form New York Law School.
 
Her father, James S. Watson, was the first elected black judge in New York.

Before joining the State Department, Miss Watson was an interviewer with the United Seaman's Service of New York from 1943 to 1946, executive director of Barbara Watson Models, a modeling agency, from 1946 to 1956, and assistant attorney in the office of the Corporation Counsel of New York City from 1963 to 1964. From 1964 to 1966 she was the executive director of the New York City Commission to the United Nations.

Secretary of State George P. Shultz said in a statement that the department was "deeply saddened" by her death. He added that she was "public servant of unusual dedication and distinction."

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[[credit]] United Press International, 1972 [[/credit]]
[[caption]] Barbara M. Watson [[/caption]]

"Her long service as Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs and her recent tour as ambassador to Malaysia made important contributions to American foreign policy," the department said.

Miss Watson is survived by two brothers, James and Douglas, both of New York, and a sister, Grace, of Washington.

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