Jay Kenneth Katzen (August 23, 1936 – April 9, 2020) was an American diplomat, business consultant, state legislator, and government agency administrator, and former President of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation.

[2] Katzen was trained at the U.S. State Department’s Foreign Service Institute to speak five languages: French, Romanian, Swahili, Lingala and Kirundi.

In 1990, Katzen was appointed by President Reagan and confirmed by the U.S. Senate as Vice Chairman of the Board of the African Development Foundation, and served in that capacity for two years.

From February 2004 to January 2009, Katzen served as the U.S. Peace Corps’ Regional Director overseeing 19 programs in Europe, the Mediterranean area, and Asia.

He was chosen freshman class president, a party whip, and co-patroned over 2,500 bills, including landmark legislation improving the quality of Virginia’s education, and reforming welfare and law enforcement.

He served on the Finance, Education, and Agriculture Committees, on the Governor’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Champion Schools, and on the Council on Indians.

[3][4] Katzen was the Republican Party’s nominee for Lieutenant Governor in 2001 and for United States Congress in Virginia’s Ninth District in 2002.