Longtime State Department spokesman, diplomat Richard Boucher, dies at 73

FILE - U S Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher gestures has he talks to journalists during a press conference in Islamabad Pakistan July AP Photo Emilio Morenatti File AP Emilio Morenatti FILE - U S Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher gestures has he talks to journalists during a press conference in Islamabad Pakistan July AP Photo Emilio Morenatti File AP Emilio Morenatti WASHINGTON AP Richard Boucher who served for more than a decade as the spokesman for the State Department and assistant secretary of state for residents affairs has died at age He died Friday at his home in northern Virginia after a battle with spindle-cell sarcoma an aggressive form of cancer according to his son Boucher had been the face of U S foreign approach at the State Department podium across administrations throughout the s and early s beginning in the George H W Bush presidency and continuing through Bill Clinton s and George W Bush s terms in office Boucher served as the spokesman for secretaries of state James Baker Madeleine Albright Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice In a career that took him from the Peace Corps though Africa and Asia as well as in Washington Boucher also served as U S Consul General Hong Kong during the handover of the territory from Britain to China and later used the skills he learned there to help orchestrate an end to the U S -China spy plane problem in early After leaving the spokesman s job Boucher became assistant secretary of state for state for South and Central Asia and was then ambassador to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Growth Retired veteran CBS journalist Charles Wolfson who worked with Boucher for years lauded him as an effective State Department spokesman but also a valued professional colleague and friend He was a superb diplomat an excellent spokesman and an even better human being Wolfson reported Source