The Foreign Service Journal, February 2009

64 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 0 9 Animals Rescue Team of Fairfax, Va. (www.hart90.org) . James D. “Dan” Phillips , 75, a re- tired FSO and former ambassador to Burundi and the Republic of the Con- go (Brazzaville), died on Oct. 6 at George Washington University Hospi- tal from complications of a belatedly di- agnosed microscopic polyangiitis. Dan Phillips was born in Peoria, Ill., on Feb. 23, 1933. He attended the University of Colorado and Wichita State University before responding to the military draft in 1953. He served in a Nike Air Defense Battalion at Ft. Dix, N.J. Placed in charge of a donation of great books to his army unit, he found time to readmany of them, later tracing his lifelong passion for literature and poetry to that experience. Following military service he re- turned to Wichita State on the GI Bill. He spent a year in Vienna as an ex- change student during the 1956 Hun- garian uprising, joining Austrian students at the border at night to guide refugees to safety. Interviewing some of those refugees for the U.S. embassy sparked his interest in the Foreign Service. After graduating fromWichita State, Mr. Phillips undertook doctoral studies at Cornell University with Dr. Mario Einaudi, former president of Italy, as his faculty adviser. During this period Mr. Phillips married Rosemary Leeds, and their first two children were born. With Dr. Einaudi encouraging his in- terest in the Foreign Service, Mr. Phillips and his young family moved to the Washington area in 1961. He was admitted to an A-100 class in 1962 and sent to Paris as his first assignment. That Paris tour included a year as staff aide to Ambassador Charles “Chip” Bohlen, whom he considered a con- summate professional. From there, Mr. Phillips was as- signed to Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), where he spent two years at the consulate in Lubumbashi and a year at the em- bassy in Kinshasa covering internal politics. His last year in the country (1966-1967) included dangerous travel as acting consul in Kisangani, deliver- ing relief supplies in areas of eastern Zaire contested by rebels, mercenar- ies and President Mobutu Sese Seko’s army. After a tour in the European bu- reau, he was again sent to Paris, where he covered internal politics. He was nominated for the director general’s reporting award for his analyses of France’s 1973 national elections. From 1973 to 1974, he served as executive assistant to Am- bassador Jack Irwin, who became a close family friend. He was then transferred to Luxembourg to serve as deputy chief of mission. His first job as a chief of mission was in The Gambia, the tiny but idyl- lic site of Alex Haley’s Roots . On his return to Washington, he attended the National War College, and then served as an office director in the In- ternational Organizations Bureau. Divorced from Rosemary Leeds in 1980, he remarried in 1984 to Lucie Gallistel Colvin, an expert in African affairs who, in his own words, “con- tributed immensely to the second half of my career.” In 1984, Mr. Phillips returned to Africa. There he served first as consul general in Casablanca. When Presi- dent Ronald Reagan called him to offer him the job as ambassador to Burundi, the normally perfunctory call turned into a memorable conver- sation. “So you got Casablanca. I wanted Casablanca, but they gave it to Bogart!” was reportedly the presi- dent’s opener. Upon his arrival in Bujumbura in 1986, Ambassador Phillips was con- fronted with an autocratic head of state, but the situation improved when a more moderate president was installed in a bloodless coup. Amb. Phillips negotiated access for the U.S. Peace Corps to Burundi for the first time. With his encouragement, Bu- rundi joined and enforced the Con- vention on International Trade in Endangered Species. He also worked with Dr. Jane Goodall and local vol- unteers to establish the country’s first chimpanzee sanctuary. After four years in Burundi, Amb. Phillips was appointed ambassador to what was then known as the People’s Republic of the Congo in Brazzaville. During a turbulent period there, his active assistance to environmental conservation outlasted the tentative steps the country took toward democ- racy. He facilitated trilateral negotia- tions to establish the Ndoki Forest, a unique gem of untouched biodiver- sity. Continuing to work with Dr. Goodall, he assisted the creation of the Tchimpounga Reserve. Following three years in Brazza- ville, Amb. Phillips spent a year as a diplomat-in-residence at the Carter Center in Atlanta. He retired in 1994 to Arlington, Va., where he headed the Central Africa Foundation and the H.M. Salaam Foundation, the lat- ter a major donor to Georgetown Uni- versity’s School of Foreign Service. He was a board member of the Jane Goodall Institute, a member of the Chevy Chase Club, a spousal member of the Cosmos Club, a Chevalier de I N M E M O R Y