The Foreign Service Journal, April 2011

A P R I L 2 0 1 1 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 67 known for his great wit and the will- ingness to present his views with blunt honesty. His depth of expertise in Arab culture was reflected in numerous ac- ademic papers and articles on a wide variety of topics, including Lebanese proverbs and Arabic graffiti, as well as scores of book reviews. An amateur photographer, Parker also took hundreds of photographs during his travels in the Middle East, and wrote two guidebooks — to Is- lamic monuments in Cairo (1974) and Morocco (1981) — the first of which is still in print. More than 650 prints and negatives of his work from Syria, Jor- dan, Egypt and Lebanon are part of the Smithsonian Institution’s Asian art collection. In 2004, Amb. Parker received the AFSA Award for Lifetime Contribu- tions to American Diplomacy. At the conclusion of a wide-ranging interview in the Foreign Service Journal that year, when asked if he recommended the Foreign Service to young people today, Parker stated, “I always tell them that I can’t think of anything I would rather have done with my life than be in the Foreign Service. There was never a dull moment.” He was the recipient of many awards throughout his career: the For- eign Service Cup (1989), the Air Force Medal of Merit (1980), the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Cedars, Lebanon (1979) and the De- partment of State Superior Service Award for his role in the rescue mis- sion to Yemen (1967), to name a few. Amb. Parker was a member of the Advisory Council on Near East Stud- ies of Princeton University, the Amer- ican Academy of Diplomacy, the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training, the American Foreign Service Association, the Middle East Institute, the Cosmos Club and Delta Tau Delta. Amb. Parker is survived by his wife of 66 years, Jeanne Jaccard Parker of Washington, D.C.; four children, Ali- son Kenway of Portland, Maine, Jeff Parker of Newton, Mass., Jill Parker of Arlington, Va., and Richard “Jack” Parker of Danvers, Mass.; nine grand- children; and two great-grandchildren. I N M E M O R Y