Cicippio, Joseph (1932–)

Joseph Cicippio was one of the last U.S. hostages to be released by the militant Islamic group that had taken him captive in Lebanon.

When he was abducted in 1986, Cicippio was the acting comptroller of the American University in Beirut. Muslim extremist groups had already abducted a handful of American University professors and staff. Because of the increasing danger to all Westerners in Beirut, Cicippio had not ventured outside of the campus for months. On the morning of September 12, gunmen, in well-orchestrated moves, grabbed Cicippio just outside the university building where he lived. Cicippio recalls that his kidnappers, posing as students, called out to him by name before taking him. His broken glasses and traces of his blood were the only evidence of his abduction.

Little was heard about Cicippio until August 1989, when a group of Shiite Muslim extremists ...