Irwin B. Laughlin

Irwin Boyle Laughlin (April 26, 1871 – April 18, 1941) was an American diplomat. He served as Minister to Greece from 1924 to 1926 and Ambassador to Spain from 1929 to 1933.

Early life

Laughlin was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1871 to George McCully Laughlin (1842–1908) and Isabel McKennan Laughlin. His father served in the Union Army during the Civil War, participating in the campaigns of the Fifth Corps of the Army of the Potomac from Antietam to Appomattox. His paternal grandfather was James H. Laughlin, a pioneer in Pittsburgh's iron and steel industries, and his maternal grandfather was William McKennan (1816–1893), a federal judge for the Third Circuit court of appeals.

Laughlin attended St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire, and Yale University, where he graduated in 1893. After graduation he entered the office of the Jones and Laughlin Steel Company, established by Benjamin Franklin Jones and his grandfather, James H. Laughlin. He was the treasurer of the company from 1900 to 1903.

In 1906, he was secretary to the American legation in Bangkok and Consul General of Siam. He was second secretary to the American legation in Peking in 1907, and then served in a similar capacity in Saint Petersburg, Athens, Montenegro, and Paris.

Family and later life

On September 18, 1912, Laughlin married Therese E. Iselin, daughter of New York banker Adrian Iselin Jr. They had two children, Alexander Laughlin and Gertrude Laughlin. Gertrude married Rear Admiral Hubert Winthrop Chanler. Laughlin died in 1941 at his home in Washington D.C. at the age of 69.