The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2012

J U LY- A U G U S T 2 0 1 2 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 73 Mr. Pringle was born in New York City, but moved with his family to vari- ous cities across the country before graduating from high school in Port Chester, N.Y., in 1939. On a visit to Mexico sponsored by the Experiment in International Living while he was attending Princeton Uni- versity, he met his lifelong love, Julia Ryder. Although blind in one eye as the result of a childhood accident, Mr. Pringle tried unsuccessfully to enlist in the Army when World War II broke out; persisting, he was finally inducted at the end of 1942. The Pringles were married in San Francisco in 1944, just before he shipped out to the Philip- pines. After the war, the couple returned to Princeton University, where Sandy graduated summa cum laude in 1947, and where his son, Harry, was born. Mr. Pringle joined the Foreign Service, and the family moved to Nicara- gua, where they lived until 1949, and where their daughter, Julie, was born. Following postings to Peru and Hon- duras, in 1955 the Pringles returned to Princeton, where Mr. Pringle spent a year of advanced study at the Wood- rowWilson School of Public and Inter- national Affairs. Following an assignment in Wash- ington, D.C., they were posted to the Netherlands in 1959. The Pringles then moved in 1963 to Montgomery, Ala., where Mr. Pringle studied at the Air War College. In 1967, after another tour inWash- ington, they left for their last overseas assignment, in San Jose, where Mr. Pringle served as deputy chief of mis- sion. The couple returned toWashing- ton in 1970, and in 1975 Mr. Pringle retired from a position in the Bureau of Inter-American Affairs. They then moved to rural Spotsyl- vania County, finally free to settle down on the 65 acres they loved so much. There Mr. Pringle was able to spend time doing the things he most enjoyed: researching his extensive antique map collection, caring for the family border collies and shelties, and working in the garden and woods on their property. He also became very involved with Christ Episcopal Church, spending countless, rewarding hours on its finan- cial and organizational affairs. When Mrs. Pringle died in 2007, Mr. Pringle began a new and very chal- lenging chapter in his life, moving to Woodbridge, Va., to be closer to his daughter. In increasingly poor health and with his eyesight diminishing, he nevertheless fiercely maintained his in- dependence and faced each day with remarkable courage and good cheer. He also remained a keen and, at times, acerbic observer of national and inter- national political affairs until just days before his death, relying on National Public Radio to provide himwith a win- dow on the world he could not see. Mr. Pringle is survived by his son, Harry, of Portland, Maine; his daugh- ter, Julie, of Woodbridge; and two grandchildren. Eugene L. Scassa , 73, a retired Foreign Service officer and former am- bassador, died on March 22 in San An- tonio, Texas, after battling various health issues. His family was at his side. A first-generation Italian-American, Mr. Scassa was born in Monaca, Pa., in 1939 to Italian immigrants Carmine and Maria Scassa. He attended Geneva College and served with the U.S. Army inMetz, France, before en- tering the U.S. Foreign Service. A graduate of the National War College, he held an honorary doctor of philoso- phy degree from St. Mary’s University. During a long diplomatic career, he served in positions of increasing re- sponsibility around the world, includ- ing Panama, Ecuador, Gabon, Mo- zambique, Mexico, Zambia, Iceland, Jamaica, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia and Belize. He also served in Washington on three different occasions: as post management officer in the Bureau of African Affairs, division chief and as- signments officer for the Middle East and South Asia, and executive director (deputy assistant secretary) of inter- American affairs. Mr. Scassa volunteered to help in Beirut on two occasions, once follow- ing the bombing of the U.S. embassy in 1984 and, again, in the spring of 1985, when TWA Flight 847 was hijacked and Americans taken hostage. He re- ceived many Department of State awards for superior performance and was also repeatedly recognized for his work to promote meaningful equal em- ployment opportunities for minorities and women. President George Herbert Walker Bush nominated Mr. Scassa to be U.S. ambassador to Belize in 1989, and he was confirmed by a unanimous Senate vote. He served in Belize for approxi- mately four years and was then as- signed as diplomat-in-residence and visiting professor of international rela- tions at St. Mary’s University in San An- tonio, Texas. Amb. Scassa also served as a delegate to the 51st UnitedNations General Assembly and as senior area adviser for Latin America. Following his retirement from the Foreign Service, Amb. Scassa re- mained at St. Mary’s, taking on tempo- rary assignments for the Department of State in Honduras, Colombia, Chile and Cuba. After a second retirement, I N M E M O R Y