Donald K. Petterson (born November 17, 1930) is an American diplomat, and a career United States Foreign Service officer.
An African affairs specialist, during his career Petterson had overseas postings in Mexico, Zanzibar, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and South Africa, and was US Ambassador to Somalia, Tanzania, and Sudan.
When he was thirteen, the family went to live in San Luis Obispo, where he attended high school, and in July 1948, aged seventeen, he joined the United States Navy "to see the world".
[2] After discharge, he attended the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he was on the football team and graduated BA in 1956 in physical education.
[4] Petterson was living in San Luis Obispo, California, in September 1978 when nominated by Jimmy Carter to serve as US Ambassador to Somalia.
[8] After a period as a foreign affairs fellow at UCLA, from 1984 to 1986 he was deputy director of the Office of Management Operations in the Department of State.
[1] In April 1992, Petterson was studying at the Foreign Service Institute in Arlington, Virginia, when he was nominated by George H. W. Bush as Ambassador to the Sudan.