L. Nicholas Ruwe

{{Short description|United States Ambassador to Iceland (1985–1989)}}

{{Use American English|date=June 2022}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2022|cs1-dates=y}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = L. Nicholas Ruwe

| order =

| ambassador_from = United States

| country = Iceland

| president = Ronald Reagan
George H. W. Bush

| term_start = July 12, 1985

| term_end = October 7, 1989

| predecessor = Marshall Brement

| successor = Charles E. Cobb

| birth_name = Lester Nicholas Ruwe

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1933|09|22}}

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1990|05|02|1933|09|22}}

| death_place = Rochester, Minnesota, U.S.

| birth_place = Detroit, Michigan, U.S.

| education = {{ubl|Brown University|University of Michigan Business School}}

| party = Republican

}}

Lester Nicholas Ruwe (September 22, 1933 – May 2, 1990) was the United States Ambassador to Iceland from 1985 until 1989.{{refn|name="Narvaez"|{{Cite news |last=Narvaez |first=Alfonso A. |date=1990-05-04 |title=L. Nicholas Ruwe, Ex-Ambassador, 56; Assisted Presidents |language=en-US |page=D21 |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/05/04/obituaries/l-nicholas-ruwe-ex-ambassador-56-assisted-presidents.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=2022-06-10}}}}{{refn|{{Cite web |title=L. Nicholas Ruwe (1933–1990) |url=https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/ruwe-l-nicholas |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20220610060243/https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/ruwe-l-nicholas |archive-date=2022-06-10 |access-date=2022-06-10 |website=Office of the Historian |publisher=United States Department of State |language=en-US}}}}

Ruwe helped settle disputes involving shipping and whaling and was responsible for the operation of the 1986 summit meeting between President Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev. He was chief of staff in New York for former President Richard M. Nixon (1980-1984), assistant chief of protocol at the State Department from 1969 to 1975, and was responsible for the state funerals of former Presidents Harry S. Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower and for the world tour of Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins after their return from the Moon in 1969.{{r|Narvaez}}{{refn|{{Cite news |date=1990-05-06 |title=L. Nicholas Ruwe |language=en-US |page=35 |work=Corpus Christi Caller-Times |agency=Associated Press |location=Rochester, Minnesota |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/103494119/obituary-for-nicholas-ruwe-aged-56/ |url-status=bot: unknown |access-date=2022-06-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220610063455/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/103494119/obituary-for-nicholas-ruwe-aged-56/ |archive-date=2022-06-10 |via=Newspapers.com }}{{open access}}}}

Ruwe graduated from Brown University in 1955 and the University of Michigan Graduate School of Business Administration in 1956.{{r|Narvaez}}

He died of cancer at the Mayo Clinic.{{r|Narvaez}}