Richard Alfred McCoy ’60, 1934–2024

A widely traveled foreign service officer, Richard Alfred McCoy ’60 died June 11, 2024, in Laredo, Texas. He was 89.

McCoy served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1952–1956. He then earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and history at Cornell College. During his active and reserve military career, McCoy received the Air Force Commendation Medal and the Air Force and Defense Department Meritorious Service Medals. He retired with the rank of colonel.

McCoy’s first career with the Department of State lasted from 1966–1986, and he received the department’s Superior Honor Award in 1979. He served as a consular officer in various capacities in San Jose, Costa Rica; Tel Aviv, Israel; Adana, Turkey; Zagreb, Yugoslavia; Georgetown, Guyana; and as country officer in the Office of Caribbean Affairs. He then joined the Bureau of Consular Affairs as special assistant to the assistant secretary. In 1984 McCoy became chief, Career Development Division, Consular Service, in the Bureau of Personnel, retiring in 1986. 

He was recalled to duty from 1990–1994 as senior policy advisor to the assistant secretary of state for consular affairs, and again from 1998–2003 to establish a laser visa program and consular outreach sites along the Texas-Mexican border. 

McCoy later worked as an immigration specialist in a law office from 2006–2014. He is survived by his wife of 26 years.