Joseph John Jova; Career Diplomat, Ambassador to Mexico

Joseph John Jova, 75, a career diplomat who was U.S. ambassador to Mexico from 1974 to 1977. A Dartmouth graduate, Jova first worked for the United Fruit Co. in Guatemala until World War II, when he served with the Navy in Europe. He began his foreign service career in 1947 as vice consul in Basra, Iraq. Jova later served as vice consul in Morocco and Portugal, director of the State Department’s bureau of French and Iberian affairs, chief of personnel operations and deputy chief of mission and charge d’affaires in Chile. He was named ambassador to Honduras in 1965 and representative to the Organization of American States in 1969. On Wednesday in Washington after a thoracic aneurysm.