SAN ANTONIO (AP) — John Gavin Hurd, who served five years as U.S. ambassador to South Africa and competed in the Olympics in 1936, died Thursday of heart failure. He was 87.
President Nixon nominated Hurd, an independent oil and gas producer and cattle rancher, as ambassador to South Africa. He served from 1970 to 1975.
Hurd competed in the men's team foil in the Olympics in Berlin in 1936. The team tied for fifth with Belgium.
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After World War II, he and his brother-in-law, Radcliffe Killam, founded Killam & Hurd. He established Hurd Enterprises Inc. in San Antonio in 1982.