1. Howard Eliot Wolpe was an American politician who served as a seven-term US Representative from Michigan and Presidential Special Envoy to the African Great Lakes Region in the Clinton Administration, where he led the United States delegation to the Arusha and Lusaka peace talks, which aimed to end civil wars in Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Howard Wolpe returned to the US State Department as Special Advisor to the Secretary for Africa's Great Lakes Region.
In 1992, Howard Wolpe's Kalamazoo-based district was eliminated, and most of its territory, including his home, was merged with the district of three-term Republican Fred Upton.
The reconfigured district was geographically more Upton's district than Howard Wolpe's, prompting Howard Wolpe to retire.
Howard Wolpe initially asked former First Lady of Michigan Helen Milliken to be his running mate, but Milliken declined his offer.
Howard Wolpe then selected one of his former rivals in the Democratic primary, State Senator Debbie Stabenow, as his nominee for lieutenant governor.
Howard Wolpe taught at Western Michigan University, Michigan State University where he co-published a volume on modernization in Nigeria, and the University of Michigan, and served as a visiting fellow in the Foreign Policy Studies Program of the Brookings Institution, as a Woodrow Wilson Center Public Policy Scholar, and as a consultant to the World Bank and to the Foreign Service Institute of the US State Department.
Howard Wolpe was a member of the boards of directors of the National Endowment for Democracy, Africare, Pathfinders, International and of the Advisory Board of Coexistence International.
Howard Wolpe wrote extensively on Africa, American foreign policy, and the management of ethnic and racial conflict.
Howard Wolpe was married to Judy Wolpe until her death in 2006.
Howard Wolpe died on October 25,2011, at his home in Saugatuck, Michigan.