Thomas Sutherland

Who is Thomas Sutherland?

Thomas Sutherland, former Dean of Agriculture at the American University of Beirut in Lebanon was kidnapped by Islamic Jihad members near his Beirut home on June 9, 1985. He was released on November 18, 1991 at the same time as Terry Waite, having been held hostage for 2353 days.

Born in Falkirk, Scotland on May 3, 1931, Sutherland obtained a BSc in Agriculture from Glasgow University, and moved to the United States in the 1950s. He was awarded a master's degree and PhD in animal breeding from Iowa State University, then taught animal science at Colorado State University for 26 years. He moved to Beirut in 1983 for a three-year term as dean of the faculty of agriculture and food science in the American University in Beirut. Despite the assassination of University President Malcolm Kerr and the kidnapping of Professor Frank Reiger in 1984, and despite being warned repeatedly by the State Department to leave, Sutherland remained at the University. Two weeks after David P. Jacobsen was abducted, Sutherland was also kidnapped while using the limousine of University President Calvin Plimpton. Upon his release, Sutherland claimed that the kidnappers mistook him for Plimpton.