The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2006

ment of State Superior Honor Award in August 1969 for his courage and leadership in Guatemala in the trying conditions following the ambassador’s assassination. In 1998, his high school in Cincinnati presented Amb. Krebs the “Golden Eagle Lifetime Achieve- ment Award.” The award was uniquely appropriate, as it had been his high school French teacher who first inspired Amb. Krebs to become a diplomat. His most recent recogni- tion was the 2002 award from the Foxfire Village Council for “Out- standing Leadership in the Village.” He is survived by his wife of 63 years, Esther Winn Krebs; a daughter, Marlynn Clayton and her husband Garry Krinsky of Greenfield, Mass; a son, Timothy of Greenfield; a grand- son, Sasha Clayton of Washing- ton, D.C.; a sister, Ruth Anne Wright of San Juan Capistrano, Calif.; a sister- in-law, Elizabeth Baldwin of Cincin- nati, Ohio; a niece, Elizabeth Simms, and two nephews, Christian and Britt Krebs, all of Ohio. Memorials may be made to the Alz- heimer’s Association, Western Carolina Chapter, 3800 Shamrock Drive, Charl- otte NC 28215, to NAMI, Moore County, P.O. Box 4823, Pinehurst NC 28374, to St. Joseph of the Pines, Development Department, 100Waters Drive, Southern Pines NC 28387, or to FirstHealth Foundation, 150 Apple- cross Road, Pinehurst NC 28374. Dr. William Edward Reed , 91, a retired FSO with USAID, died on April 12 at Wesley Long Community Hospital in Greensboro, N.C. Dr. Reed was born in Columbia, La., on July 15, 1914. He began his education at Rosenwald School, then attended the Brownville Baptist Church founded in 1869 by his great- grandfather and others in the com- munity. He graduated from Union Central High School, built by his father, and went on to receive a B.S. degree (cum laude) in agriculture and science from Southern University, near Baton Rouge, in 1937. He pur- sued graduate studies during the sum- mer of 1938 at Tuskegee Institute, and in 1941 he received a master’s degree in soil science from Iowa State Uni- versity. He earned a Ph.D. in soil chemistry in 1946 from Cornell Uni- versity. From 1936 to 1937, Dr. Reed worked as a technician with the Soil Conservation Service in Bossier and Caddo Parishes in Louisiana. From 1937 to 1940, he was a county agricul- tural agent with Louisiana State Uni- versity’s Cooperative Agricultural and Home Economic Extension Service in East Feliciana Parish, Clinton, La. From 1942 to 1947 he taught agrono- my and chemistry intermittently at Southern University. During this peri- od, he was a member of the State Committee on Resource Use Educa- tion at Southern University, and also a member of the Mayor’s Advisory Committee on Interracial Problems in the City of Baton Rouge. Dr. Reed’s first special assignment with the U.S. government was with the Department of State. From 1947 to 1949, he undertook a mission to the Republic of Liberia to study its soils and evaluate the prospects for agricultural development in that country as a forerunner of USAID development programs. He walked and traveled throughout Liberia con- ducting research for Reconnaissance Soil Survey of Liberia , published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1951. After his return from Liberia, in 1949, Dr. Reed became dean of the School of Agriculture at North Caro- lina’s Agricultural & Technical Col- lege in Greensboro. From 1951 to 1961, he served as chairman of the State Rural Progress Campaign Committee, promoting rural devel- opment in 66 counties in North Carolina. At the height of the Cold War, in 1955, Dr. Reed was selected as one of 12 American agricultural scientists who toured the Soviet Union. During a subsequent leave of absence from A&T College from 1957 to 1959, he served as chief of party for an International Cooper- ation Administration contract team to Ghana. In 1961, Dr. Reed joined the Foreign Service. He served several tours of duty in Ibadan as USAID’s assistant director for the western region of Nigeria. In 1963, he was a member of the U.S. delegation to the United Nations Conference on the Application of Science and Technology for the benefit of the less developed areas of the world in Geneva. He was posted to Ethiopia from 1968 to 1972 as USAID’s dep- uty mission director. From 1972 to 1976, Dr. Reed served as USAID officer-in-residence at North Caro- lina Agricultural & Technical State University (formerly A&T College), the last two years as special assistant to the chancellor for international programs. Dr. Reed remained at NCATSU for the rest of his career. From 1976 to 1978, he was associate dean for research and special programs in the School of Agriculture; and from 1978 to 1988 he was director of internation- al programs for the university. After retiring in 1988, he enjoyed spending time with his family, especially his grandchildren, and gardening. Dr. Reed was a member of numer- ous organizations and professional societies, including: Omega Psi Phi, Sigma Pi Phi, Phi Kappa Phi (Nation- al Scholastic Honor Society), Sigma Xi (National Scientific Honor Society) 56 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / J U LY- A U G U S T 2 0 0 6 I N M E M O R Y