James C. Hormel, the first openly gay person to represent the United States as an ambassador, died on Friday in San Francisco.He was 88.
His death, at the California Pacific Medical Center, was confirmed by a family spokesman. His son, Jimmy, said Mr. Hormel had been in the hospital for two weeks.
Mr. Hormel, a philanthropist and the grandson of the founder of Hormel Foods, served as ambassador to Luxembourg under President Bill Clinton.
But his nomination process was met with public opposition, spearheaded by conservative Republicans who portrayed Mr. Hormel as a sinner and equated being gay to having an addiction or being a kleptomaniac.