Tom Korologos the Greek American diplomat and Washington insider passed away on July 26, 2024, at the age of 91.
A second-generation Greek American, Tom Korologos was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1933. He had family origins from Tyros, Arcadia, in Greece. His parents, Chris T. Korologos and Irene M. Kolendrianos, were are both immigrants from Arcadia.
He was a U.S. Air Force officer from 1956 to 1957 and earned his B.A. degree at the University of Utah and in 1958 an M.S. degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism where he received a Grantland Rice Fellowship and a Pulitzer Fellowship.
Ambassador Korologos started his political career in 1962, working for US Senator Wallace Bennett of Utah. He became a Senate liaison for President Nixon in 1971 and continued that role for one year in the Ford administration.
His long career of government service included work with Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush. From 2004-2007, Korologos served as the 29th US Ambassador to Belgium in Brussels where he initiated a Muslim outreach program that was later adopted by the State Department.
Tom Korologos and the annual Greek Independence reception
Speaking to Greek Reporter during the annual reception in 2019 he described how he was instrumental in establishing the annual Greek Independence Day reception at the White House and persuading President Reagan to meet with Greek-American leaders.
“[President Reagan] liked the Greeks. When he was President I took him to Detroit, to Greektown, and he liked the souvlakia and we had a big thing for Greek day, and the other ones were done at the Rose Garden with flowers and a big press briefing…
“And it grew and grew. Every president since has done it. If the last guy did it, the next president wants to do it better,” Korologos said.
Ambassador Korologos was preceded in death by his wife Joy G. Korologos in 1997. They had three children.
He remarried Ann McLaughlin Korologos, Secretary of Labor under President Reagan, in 2000. Secretary Korologos owned an art gallery in Basalt, Colorado, where the two contributed to the local art scene and enjoyed the mountain landscapes until she passed away in January 2023.
As an avid photographer, many of Ambassador Korologos’ works are at the Ann Korologos Gallery including this photograph, “Home Alone at Sopris.” More of his photography can be viewed here.
As a regular attendee of the Nixon Foundation’s White House staff annual reunions, Ambassador Korologos was a featured speaker for political updates. His fellow Nixon administration alumni remember him for his intelligence, political savvy and great sense of humor.
Tributes to Ambassador Tom Korologos
“He guided hundreds of prominent individuals — including Vice Presidents, Supreme Court Justices and Cabinet members — through Senate confirmation hearings, Tom Korologos was liked and respected by people on all sides of the political spectrum,” Bobbie & Bill Kilberg staffers of President Nixon’s White House told the Nixon Foundation.
“Tom mentored us and taught us not just the basic elements of how the Congress functioned but the complex nuances of how to get things done. He was both very principled and very practical and consistently demonstrated how those two things could work together for a good result,” they added.
Bill Timmons, Assistant for Legislative Affairs for President Nixon said: “Tom was a loyal Nixon patriot of the first order, intelligent, compassionate, and witty, who had a strong influence on government at all levels. Many Senators, Cabinet Members, and Supreme Court Justices depended on Tom for counsel or to guide them through confirmation, and his friends held him high among the best. He will be missed but never forgotten.”
