The Foreign Service Journal, April 2005

he served as ambassador from 1969 to 1973 — and Washington, D.C. He was program director of the Voice of America for 11 years. He also served as director of the Office of German Affairs in the State Department, and as deputy assistant secretary of State for Western European Affairs. Amb. Puhan received the Superior Service Award from the State Department upon retirement in 1981. Amb. and Mrs. Puhan then relo- cated to Sarasota, Fla., where he gave foreign policy lectures at the Sarasota Institute of Lifetime Learning. “In retirement, he really enjoyed life out of the fast lane,” Jeanne Puhan told the Sarasota Herald Tribune . “He had a good, long life, and he enjoyed every minute of it.” Despite surgery and repeated hospitalizations after a fall five years ago, Amb. Puhan con- tinued to play golf until a year before his death. Amb. Puhan was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, the Cosmos Club in Washington, D.C., and the Sarasota Institute of Lifetime Learning. He was a parishioner of the Old Miakka United Methodist Church. Survivors include his wife, Jeanne; daughters Ursula Burke of Scituate, Mass., and Fairfax Farrell of San Diego, Calif.; a son, Fred of Potomac Falls, Va.; a sister, Suzanne Powis of Venice, Fla.; 10 grandchildren; and one great-grandson. Memorial dona- tions may be made to Selby Botanical Gardens, 811 S. Palm Ave., Sarasota FL 34243. G. Lewis Schmidt , 89, a retired FSO with the U.S. Information Agency, died at the Tall Oaks assisted living facility in Reston, Va., on Dec. 31. Mr. Schmidt’s government service extended from the Eisenhower through the Nixon administrations. His lifelong interest in travel (public and private), music, arts, customs, his- tory and archeology carried him to more than 70 countries, some of them repeatedly. Born and raised in Seattle, Wash., Mr. Schmidt entered the University of Washington, graduating with Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude honors. He also won the Philo Sherman Bennet Prize in Political Science. In 1938, as chairman of the American delegation to the Japan-America Student Conference, he traveled to Japan to conduct academic/study dis- cussions through an uninhibited exchange of opinions. The students also visited Manchuria, then a socially, politically and militarily contested arena under Japanese rule. Mr. Schmidt’s interest in interna- tional affairs and concern for a friend- ly relationship between the U.S. and Japan were the leitmotifs of his career. Later, following retirement, he found- ed the nonprofit Japan-America Student Conference, Inc. in 1979, serving as president/treasurer and, subsequently, as a board member, to ensure continuation of the Japan- America Student Conference pro- gram. Mr. Schmidt was awarded a Littauer Fellowship at Harvard University, where he received his Ph.D. in 1940. He was commissioned into active duty by the U.S. Army, and later appointed officer-in-charge of the Northern Region of the State of California. In 1944 he was assigned to the Army School of Military Govern- ment, which led to further training in civil affairs at the University of Virginia and in government adminis- tration and area studies at Stanford University. At the end of World War II, Mr. Schmidt served in the Supreme Command of Allied Powers Far East Command, Sixth Army. His work with the occupation forces in Japan led to many lasting friendships. He was demobilized in 1946, having received five military medals. His military career continued as a reserve officer until 1966, when he retired as a lieutenant colonel. Mr. Schmidt’s interest in govern- ment brought him back toWashington D.C., where he first entered the Department of Agriculture as a bud- get analyst. In 1951, Mr. Schmidt passed the Foreign Service examina- tion, and was assigned to establish the civil information and education activi- ties within Embassy Tokyo. By the end of his four-year assignment, he had become the deputy and, later, act- ing head of the USIA program in Tokyo. He remained a resolute believer in the importance of public diplomacy throughout his life. Mr. Schmidt was then assigned to Rio de Janeiro, where he contracted polio that took away the mobility of his right foot. After a period of recu- peration in Seattle, he spent two years in Washington in charge of USIA- Latin America Operations. Later postings took him to Turkey (1964) and Thailand (1967). As director of USIS Thailand, he supervised one of the agency’s largest reduction-in-force operations in compliance with the policy of curtailing U.S. activities abroad. During the transition period from the Eisenhower to the Kennedy administration, Mr. Schmidt was act- ing deputy director of USIA. The highlight of his career was when he was appointed assistant director of USIA for administration and manage- ment by Mr. Edward R. Murrow, the newly appointed director. In 1964, Mr. Schmidt received the National Civil Service League Award as one of the 10 “Outstanding U.S. Government Career Service” men of the year. Many years later, in 2004, he 60 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 5 I N M E M O R Y