Ken Taylor, Canada’s ex-ambassador to Iran during Iranian hostage crisis, dead

Ken Taylor, Canada’s ambassador to Iran who sheltered Americans at his residence during the 1979 Iran hostage crisis has died.

In 1980, Taylor was made an Officer of the Order of Canada along with his wife Pat and other Canadian personnel involved in the escape.

Conservative Leader Stephen Harper paid tribute in a statement from the campaign trail.

“It is with sadness that I learned of the passing of Ken Taylor”, Harper said.

“I was very sorry to learn just now of the death of Ken Taylor, a star of the Canadian foreign service and fearless soul”, – former Ontario premier Bob Rae.

U.S. Ambassador to Canada Bruce Heyman called Taylor “courageous”, in a statement, saying his actions “exemplify the enduring nature of the special relationship between the United States and Canada”.

Taylor was Canada’s envoy in Tehran in November 1979 when students stormed the US embassy, taking dozens of Americans hostage.

The six USA diplomats had managed to slip away when their embassy was overrun in 1979.

Taylor’s exploits in Iran in 1979 – a high-stakes political drama with life-and-death implications – later became the subject of the 2012 Hollywood film, “Argo”.

The story of the escape was retold in the 2012 movie Argo featuring actor Ben Affleck in the role of real-life Central Intelligence Agency operative Tony Mendez, who helped concoct the cover story and provide disguises for the diplomats. The film won the Academy Award for Best Picture. And Americans – US citizens have long memories, particularly when they feel themselves in a dilemma where they’re looking for an ally and that ally is there and is prepared to act on their behalf whatever the consequences.

“There were folks who didn’t want to stick their necks out and the Canadians did”, Affleck told a Toronto worldwide Film Festival press conference.

In 2013, Taylor’s story was told again at the Toronto global Film Festival, which debuted the documentary, “Our Man in Tehran”.