The Foreign Service Journal, January 2004

His letters home and his investiga- tions of Austrian industry have been reproduced in historical accounts of the period. Mr. Sweet joined the historical division of the State Department after the war, following stints teaching at Colby College in Maine and the University of Chicago. He worked from 1948 to 1959 on the German foreign office documents, first in England, then in Washington, D.C., as American editor-in-chief in the tri- partite U.S.-British-French project. An account he later wrote about the Windsor episode, after appearing in The Historian , was translated into German and published in that country’s leading journal of modern history. From 1959 to 1963, Mr. Sweet served in Bonn, and then from 1963 to 1967 in Stuttgart. Following retire- ment, he taught the history of interna- tional relations at Michigan State University in East Lansing. His two- volume biography of the Prussian statesman, political theorist and lin- guist Wilhelm von Humboldt, was published by Ohio State University Press in 1978 and 1980. Mr. Sweet continued to publish articles on German intellectuals of the 19th cen- tury until he was well into his nineties. Mr. Sweet is survived by his wife Katharyn, a daughter Sarah Rosen of Philadelphia, a son William Sweet of Brooklyn, N.Y., four grandchildren and four great grandchildren. Donations in his memory may be made to Depauw University in Greencastle, Ind. William Henry Witt , 83, a retired FSO who specialized in political affairs and global issues, died of complications from Parkinson’s disease on Oct. 24 at the Collington Lifecare Community in Mitchellville, Md. Mr. Witt, who also had a home in Nantucket, Mass., retired in 1977 after 30 years in gov- ernment service. Mr. Witt was born and raised in Seattle, Wash., where his father, W.H. Witt Sr., was a prominent engineer and builder. He graduated salutatorian from Broadway High School and received a scholarship to attend Har- vard University, where he graduated magna cum laude in 1941. He entered the Army Air Corps and trained as a pilot, serving until 1945. In 1943, then- Lt. Witt met his wife of nearly 60 years, then-Lt. Mary Fox, who was serv- ing as an officer in the Women’s Army Corps. From 1945 to 1947, Mr. Witt attended Harvard Law School, and received his law degree from George Washington University Law School. He entered the Foreign Service in 1947, and his career included postings in Denmark, Finland and Iceland. In 1957 he was assigned as a division chief in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research, and from 1961 to 1962 he attended the Army War College at Carlisle Barracks, Pa. From 1962 to 1967, Mr. Witt served as political counselor to the U.S. embassy in theRepublic of SouthAfrica. He served in the State Department’s Bureau of African Affairs from 1967 to 1970, and was assigned to the faculty of the National Defense University from 1970 to 1977, where he taught courses on a range of global issues. Mr. Witt served as a warden in the Episcopal Church and partici- pated in many charitable activities, including Meals on Wheels. For many years, he kept a sailboat, “Madre,” in Nantucket, Mass. Survivors include his wife, Mary F. Witt of Mitchellville and Nantucket; his four daughters, Susan Alexander of Bethesda, Md; Priscilla Witt of Reston, Va.; Dr. Charlotte Witt of Portland, Maine; Virginia Witt of San Francisco, Calif.; and six grandchildren. 78 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 4 I N M E M O R Y