Albert Jamil Butros

His Excellency Dr Albert Jamil Butros (March 25, 1934 - August 31, 2021) was a Jordanian Ambassador and emerited Dean (education) of the University of Jordan.

Dr Butros had a long and varied career in academia, diplomacy and politics, serving as Jordanian Ambassador to The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Iceland, as well as acting as special advisor to then Crown Prince Hassan bin-Talal of Jordan, and serving as a Professor of English at several universities in Jordan and the USA, and as a member of the Board of Governors of the International Development Research Centre.

Albert Butros was born to a Roman Catholic family in Jerusalem in 1934.

Dr Butros began his academic career in 1950, when he taught English language and Mathematics at Elementary and Secondary School in two Amman Private Schools.

In 1955, he was awarded a British Council Scholarship to England by the Jordan Ministry of Education, studying at Exeter University and the University of London, before completing his Doctorate at Columbia University, New York, through a Smith–Mundt Act Scholarship in the United States.

After completing his doctorate, he lectured English studies at the Hunter College, City University of New York.

From 1962 to 1963 he instructed English at the Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, before becoming Associate English Professor at the University of Jordan in 1965.

From 1967 to 1973 and from 1974 to 1976 he was Chairman of the Department of English at the University of Jordan.

From July 19 to September 2, 1969 he enjoyed a Leaders' Grant to the United States.

From 1971 to 1972, he was Visiting Professor of English at the Wesleyan University in Ohio, and later served as Dean of Research and Graduate Studies of the University of Jordan.

He also served as a Visiting English studies Professor at the Jordan University for Women in Amman.

He went on to serve as a Professor, and Chairman of the Department of English at the University of Jordan, a role he held until 1976.

From 1976 to 1984 he was Director General and President of Jordan's Royal Scientific Society in Amman, where he set the tone for an organisation which 'underpromised on what it would deliver, and did what it promised'.

From 1984 to 1985 he was Special Advisor to the then Crown Prince Hassan bin-Talal of Jordan.

He went on to sit on the Board of Directors of Jordan's Telecommunications Corporation, the Council of the Federation of Arab Research Councils, The Royal Society of Fine Arts, and the Arab Thought Forum.

In 1986, he was made a Fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science.

Dr Butros served as Chairman of UNESCO's Consultative Group of Experts on Science and Technology Policy, and on ALECSO's Science and Advisory Committee.

He sat on the Board of Governors of the International Development Research Centre in Ottawa from 1986 to 1998.

In 1987, he was appointed Jordan's Ambassador to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, serving as Ambassador during the Gulf War.

He also had concurrent non-resident Diplomatic accreditation in Dublin, Ireland in 1988, and Reykjavík, Iceland, in 1990.

Dr Butros married Ida Maria (Casie) Albina, and had four children, eight grandchildren and one great grandchild.

Following a period of service in politics and diplomacy, he returned to the University of Jordan, where he continued teaching English until his retirement in 2004.