J. Owen Zurhellen, Jr.

Joseph Owen Zurhellen Jr. (July 8, 1920 New York City – November 5, 1990) was an American Career Foreign Service Officer who was the first Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Suriname (1976-1978) when it gained independence in 1975. He had been the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian Affairs, Deputy Chief of Mission Israel, Foreign Service Officer, Professor at Manhattanville College; Arms Control Negotiator; and Deputy Director at the U.N.

He graduated from Columbia University, and after serving in the Marines, he entered the Foreign Service in 1946.He taught political science at Manhattanville College after retiring from the Foreign Service in 1978.Zurhellen, a resident of Putnam Valley, New York, died of cancer at Montefiore Hospital in The Bronx.

Joseph Owen Zurhellen was born on July 8, 1920 in New York City, NY to Joseph Owen and Dorrial Bernadette (née Levy) Zurhellen.

Zurhellen married Helen Audrey Millar on December 19, 1942.