Leslie H. Gelb, a former diplomat and journalist, died on Saturday at the age of 82 at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center in Manhattan. His wife, Judith Gelb, said he died of renal failure brought on by diabetes. Gelb worked as a columnist and correspondent for The New York Times, and he was also a columnist for The Daily Beast. When Gelb was 30, he took charge of the team that compiled the Pentagon Papers for Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara. He also served as assistant secretary of state and director of the Bureau of Politico-Military Affairs during the Carter administration, and served as president of the Council on Foreign Relations from 1993 to 2003. “He was a patriot in its noblest definition who devoted his senior years to helping veterans and mentoring coming generations of policymakers,” former diplomat Winston Lord told The New York Times.