The Foreign Service Journal, April 2003

Robert M. Brandin , 83, retired FSO, died Feb. 6 at the Monadnock Community Hospital in Peter- borough, N.H., after a sudden ill- ness. He was a resident of Jaffrey, N.H. Mr. Brandin was born in New York City on March 2, 1919, the son of Nils and Dorothy (Mead) Brandin. He was raised on Long Island and in Northern New Jersey. Mr. Brandin graduated from Princeton University in 1940. One week after Pearl Harbor, Mr. Brandin entered the Department of State where he was assigned to con- sular and economic warfare work at Embassy Madrid. He was also involved in special intelligence mis- sions throughout southern France. In 1947, Mr. Brandin was sent to Columbia University to study gradu- ate economics. It was there that he met and married his wife, Barbara M. Lockton, a former captain in the Women’s Army Corps. In June 1948, Mr. and Mrs. Brandin were transferred to the American legation in Helsinki, where Mr. Brandin was chief of the economic section. In 1950, he was transferred to Paris as the first secre- tary in the American embassy work- ing on military aid to France for Indo-China. Later, Mr. Brandin was the chief of the economic section of the U.S. mission in West Berlin, and was in charge of the financial aid program there. After returning to Washington, D.C. in 1958, Mr. Brandin attended the National War College and stud- ied national defense and foreign pol- icy. Following this training, Mr. Brandin was placed in charge of Northern European affairs and was appointed deputy director of German affairs during the Berlin Crisis of 1961. In 1963 he became the deputy chief of mission at the American embassy in Vienna, and in 1967 was transferred to the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, where he served as political advisor to two Supreme Allied commanders. Later, Mr. Brandin served as deputy chief of mission in Athens and Mexico City. He and his family retired to Jaffrey, N.H., in 1975. In Jaffrey, Mr. Brandin served on the Planning Board and other town committees. He was president of the Amos Fortune Forum and the Thorndike Pond Club. Mr. Brandin was also a part-time lecturer in eco- nomics and history at Nathaniel Hawthorne College and Franklin Pierce College. Mr. Brandin’s wife of 54 years, Barbara M. (Lockton) Brandin, died one day after he did. Mr. Brandin is survived by his four children; a daughter, Robin Brandin of Albuquerque, N.M., and three sons, Christopher Brandin of Colorado Springs, Colo., Eric Brandin of Portsmouth, N.H., and Raymond Brandin of Nottingham, N.H.; and six grandchildren. A memorial service will be announced at a later date. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made in Mr. Brandin’s name to the Salvation Army, 15 Roxbury Plaza, PO Box 417, Keene, NH 03431. To send condolences to the family or for more information, please visit the Web site: www.cournoyerfh.com. Barbara M. Brandin , 81, wife of the late FSO Robert M. Brandin, died Feb. 7 at the Monadnock Community Hospital in Peter- borough, N.H., after a sudden ill- ness. Mrs. Brandin was born in New York City on May 23, 1921, the daughter of Raymond P. and Helen (Berkery) Lockton. She spent most of her childhood in Harrington Park, N.J. Mrs. Brandin enlisted in the U.S. Army, Women’s Army Corps in August 1942. She attended Officer Candidate School and was commissioned on Aug. 13, 1943. She was stationed in Berlin from July 1945 to March 1946. After achieving the rank of captain, Mrs. Brandin separated from the Army on March 15, 1946, to take a posi- tion at Embassy Moscow. She left Moscow in 1947 and returned to New York to attend Columbia University, where she met Foreign Service officer and husband-to-be Robert M. Brandin. Shortly after their marriage in June 1948, Mr. and Mrs. Brandin were transferred to Helsinki, where their first child, daughter Robin, was born. They subsequently did tours of duty in Paris, Berlin, Washington, D.C., Vienna, at Supreme Head- quarters Allied Powers Europe in 68 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / A P R I L 2 0 0 3 I N M EMORY