J. Stapleton Roy

Who is J. Stapleton Roy?

J. Stapleton Roy was a senior United States diplomat specializing in Asian affairs. A fluent Chinese speaker, Roy spent much of his career in East Asia, where his assignments included Bangkok, Hong Kong, Taipei, Beijing, Singapore, and Jakarta. He also specialized in Soviet affairs and served in Moscow at the height of the Cold War. Ambassador Roy served as Assistant Secretary of State for intelligence and research from 1999 to 2000.

Ambassador Roy was born in Nanking, China, where his father, Andrew Tod Roy, was a Presbyterian missionary and teacher who stayed on in China until he was denounced by the new government and expelled in 1951. His brother is David Tod Roy, a noted scholar and translator of Chinese literature. While in Shanghai, he attended Shanghai American School, but left China and SAS when the school was closed in 1949 following the Communist takeover of Shanghai. He attended Mount Hermon School, and in 1956, graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University, where he majored in history and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

Roy rose to become a three-time ambassador, serving as the top U.S. envoy in Singapore, the People's Republic of China, and Indonesia. In 1996, he was promoted to the rank of career ambassador, the highest rank in the United States Foreign Service.