R.A.D. Ford

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Robert Arthur Douglas Ford, CC (January 8, 1915 – April 12, 1998) was a Canadian diplomat who served as ambassador to the U.S.S.R. (Russia). He was also a minor Canadian poet.

Life
Born in Ottawa, Ontario, the son of former London Free Press Editor-in Chief and University of Western Ontario Chancellor Arthur Ford. He received a B.A. in history and English in 1937 from the M.A. in history in 1940 from Cornell University.

Ford joined the Department of External Affairs in 1940 and was Ambassador to Colombia (1957 – 1959), Yugoslavia (1959 – 1961), United Arab Republic (1961 – 1963), and to the USSR (1964 – 1980).

He was a fluent Russian speaker, and translated Russian poetry into English.

In 1971 he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada.

Poetry

 * Window on the North (1956), winner of the 1956 Governor General's Award for Poetry or Drama
 * The Solitary City (1969)
 * Needle in the Eye (1983)
 * Doors, Words, and Silence (1985)
 * Russian Poetry: A Personal Anthology (1984)
 * Dostoevsky and Other Poems (1988)

Non-fiction

 * Our Man in Moscow (1989)