The Foreign Service Journal, January 2010

60 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 1 0 in 1962, Mr. Westgate received a B.A. from Stanford University and a Ph.D. from the University of California- Berkeley. He taught at King Faisal University in Saudi Arabia before join- ing the U.S. Information Agency. Mr. Westgatemet his wife, Pummarie Sum- mondis Westgate, when she was a jour- nalist with the Bangkok Post and he was a cultural attaché. During a 22-year career with USIA, Mr. Westgate served in Thailand, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia, Ethiopia and Germany, where he was consul general in Stuttgart. His last foreign posting, without his family, was in Ethiopia. He retired as acting deputy director of public affairs for Africa. Mr. Westgate spoke seven languages, was a member of Mensa and was a Silver Master in bridge. Mr. Westgate is survived by his wife of 26 years, Pummarie Westgate of Ar- lington, Va.; their two sons, Guy and Geoffrey; three sisters, Leanne, Lorin- da and Jenette, and a brother, Bill. Memorial contributions may be di- rected to The American Red Cross, for Hurricane Katrina reconstruction. William B. Whitman , 73, a retired Foreign Service officer, died on Oct. 30 in Washington, D.C. Born on Nov. 28, 1935, in East Or- ange, N.J., Mr. Whitman was a 1957 graduate of Northwestern University. In 1960, he was commissioned as a Foreign Service officer. He served in Italy (with assignments to Palermo, Milan and Rome, where he was minis- ter-counselor for economic affairs), Bo- livia, Yugoslavia and Washington, D.C. After the breakup of Yugoslavia, Mr. Whitman served inMacedonia as head of mission, with the title of ambassador, for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. He was also special assistant to former Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, who headed the In- ternational Commission on Missing Persons after the Balkan War. After retiring from the Foreign Service, Mr. Whitman worked part- time as a Senior Foreign Service in- spector in Burkina Faso, Germany, Mexico, Madagascar, Niger and Wash- ington, D.C. He also became a prolific travel writer. More than 200 of his ar- ticles appeared in a wide range of pub- lications including Business Jet Travel- er , Capitol File , Forbes-Life Magazine , Hemispheres Magazine , National Geo- graphic Traveler , the New York Times and the Washington Post . Mr. Whitman was also the author of six books. Of these, Washington, D.C.: Off the Beaten Path — A Guide to Unique Places (Globe Pequot Press, 2001), an insider’s guide to the District’s hidden corners, is now in its fifth edi- tion. His Literary Cities of Italy (Starr- hill Press, 1991) takes readers to the lit- erary haunts of great writers in Rome, Florence and Venice. He also wrote Virginia Wine Country (Casco Com- munications, 1997), a comprehensive guide to Virginia wine and winemakers, and The Quotable Politician (The Lyons Press, 2003), a compendium of political sayings. Mr. Whitman is survived by his wife of 43 years, Cameron DeCamp Whit- man of Washington, D.C., and his daughter, Ellis Whitman, a writer and editor in New York City. ■ I N M E M O R Y