Inspired by the international trip,[2] he received his Bachelor of Science (magna cum laude) from the Fox School of Business and Management at Temple University in 1966,[5] "[d]etermined to work overseas".

For two years he was the supervisory general services officer in Conakry, Guinea[7] (during Portugal's Operation Green Sea)[4] before doing the same in Nairobi, Kenya from 1972–1974.

After another overseas assignment to Bridgetown, Barbados, Young returned to the US in 1979 to work in the Foreign Service's Washington, D.C. Bureau of Personnel and Office of the Inspector General.

[6] While working for the Foreign Service, Young participated in Operation Sharp Edge and the evacuation of US civilians in Freetown after Valentine Strasser's coup d'état.

[7] On October 12, 2004, Young was appointed a Senior Foreign Service Career Ambassador,[8] one of the few African Americans of his generation to be honored with such.

[6] After his 2004 retirement, Young was a member of St. Augustine Catholic Church in Washington, D.C.[2] Diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in December 2020,[13] he died at home in Kensington, Maryland on July 24, 2021, survived by his wife and two children.