Former U.S. Ambassador to Japan Robert Ingersoll died Aug. 22 at his home in Evanston, Ill., The New York Times reported in its online edition. He was 96.

Ingersoll served as U.S. ambassador to Japan from 1972 until November 1973 under the administration of President Richard Nixon, as assistant secretary of state for East Asia and Pacific affairs in 1974 and as deputy secretary of state from 1974 to 1976.

Born in Illinois in 1914, Ingersoll graduated from Yale University in 1937.

His daughter confirmed his death, the newspaper said.