The Foreign Service Journal, May 2017

66 MAY 2017 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL U.S. embassy in Taiwan in 1963 as politi- cal and commercial officer, returning to Washington again in 1966 to serve suc- cessively as Taiwan desk officer, deputy director of PRC affairs and attend the National War College. From 1971 to 1975—the period that saw the end of the Cultural Revolu- tion, the rise of the “Gang of Four” and the death of Mao Zedong—Mr. Thayer served as deputy political counselor at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in New York City, and was then posted to the American Liaison Office in Beijing as deputy chief of mission under George H. W. Bush from 1975 to 1976. In 1980, Mr. Thayer was appointed U.S. ambassador to Singapore, serving until 1984, when he was named director of the American Institute in Taiwan until 1986. Ambassador Thayer retired from the Foreign Service in 1989 as dean of the Foreign Service Institute School of Lan- guage Studies. During a distinguished 30-year career he was recognized with the Meritorious Service Award, two Superior Honor Awards and the Distin- guished Honor Award. Amb. Thayer soon returned to the State Department as a consultant to the Office of Asylum Affairs and, later, as a reemployed annuitant, worked as a reviewer for Asia in the Freedom of Information office. He was a member of the FOIA Appeals Panel at the time of his illness and had hoped to return to work. In retirement he volunteered with Meals on Wheels and the Community Council for the Homeless at Friend- ship Place. He was a member of the American Foreign Service Association, DACOR, the Far East Luncheon Group, the Washington Institute of Foreign Affairs, the C&O Canal Association and an array of organizations in support of the environment, civil rights and human rights. Family members and friends remem- ber Amb. Thayer not only as a consum- mate diplomat, but also as a cultured and modest man with a wry sense of humor who savored the serenity of the outdoors. He took a deep interest in oth- ers and relished the accomplishments and exploits of his extended family and many friends. Ambassador Thayer is survived by his wife, Marion GuggenheimThayer; four children from his first marriage to Joan Pirie: Robert, Nathaniel and Margaret Thayer of Washington, D.C., and Marian Thayer Vito of West Chester, Pa.; three stepchildren from his second marriage to Edith G. Browne: Olin, Luis and Jer- emy Browne; three stepchildren: Grace, Davis and Jonathan Guggenheim; five grandchildren: Amanda, Julia and John Thayer, and Nathaniel and James Vito; seven step-grandchildren; a step-great- grandson; and a sister, Marian Thayer Toland. His brothers, Frederick, Thrus- ton and Nelson Thayer, predeceased him. Memorial contributions may be made to the Potomac Conservancy or to the C&O Canal Association. n Richard S. Thompson, 83, a retired Foreign Service officer, died peacefully at his home in Bethesda, Md., on March 7. Born in Spokane, Wash., in 1933, Mr. Thompson grew up in Pullman, Wash. After graduating from Washington State University in 1955, he attended Oxford University for two years as a Rhodes Scholar, followed by two years in the U.S. Army. He earned an MA in government from Georgetown University. Mr. Thompson joined the State Department Foreign Service in 1960. During a 27-year diplomatic career, he served in Aruba and Curaçao, Niger, Vietnam, France and Algeria, as well as in assignments at the State Department in Washington, D.C. The highlight of his career was his three tours in Saigon. He arrived in Vietnam in January 1968, one week before the Tet offensive, which included an attack on the U.S. embassy. In 1972 and 1973, he participated in the Vietnam peace talks in Paris. Mr. Thompson’s final tour in Viet- nam ended when he was evacuated by helicopter from the embassy roof dur- ing the fall of Saigon in April 1975. His article about that experience, “Leaving Saigon: An FSO’s Last Day in Vietnam,” appeared in the April 2000 Foreign Ser- vice Journal . While serving in Algiers from 1980 to 1982, Mr. Thompson supported the negotiations for the release of the American hostages in Iran. After retiring from the Foreign Ser- vice in 1987, he worked for 12 years at the American Foreign Service Associa- tion as the professional issues coordina- tor and was the unofficial proofreader for each edition of The Foreign Service Journal . Mr. Thompson enjoyed travel, ten- nis, music, walking on the towpath and spending time with family. He is survived by two sons, John of Bethesda, Md., and Alex of Columbus, Ohio; a daughter, Francesca, of Washington, D.C.; and five grand-daughters: Stella, Sophia, Lucy, Roxanne and Nina. Donations in his memory may be made to the Albert W. Thompson Schol- arship Fund at the Washington State University Foundation. n