The Foreign Service Journal, July/August 2018

98 JULY-AUGUST 2018 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL United Nations and deputy U.N. high commissioner for refugees in Geneva. Following his retirement from the Foreign Service, he became the founding executive director of the Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize in the early 1990s. From 1997 to 2015, he was a professor at the BMW Center for German and Euro- pean Studies at Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service. A leading American historian of mod- ern Germany, Mr. Smyser wrote 10 books and numerous articles for publications in the United States and Germany on politics, history, economics and humani- tarian issues, including Kennedy and the Berlin Wall (2009) and From Yalta to Berlin (2000). Mr. Smyser is survived by his wife of 49 years, Sally Horner Smyser, sisters Helga Smyser and Joy Olney, and brother Lair Hamilton. His son, Cameron, prede- ceased him in 1998. n William P. Stedman Jr., 95, a retired Foreign Service officer and former ambassador, died on March 25 of conges- tive heart failure. Mr. Stedman was born in Baltimore, Md. He received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland in 1943, and then served in the U.S. Navy in the Pacific as a lieutenant from 1943 to 1946. In 1947 he was awarded a master’s degree from Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Stud- ies. Mr. Stedman joined the Foreign Service in 1947. He specialized in Latin America and in economic affairs. He served in economic, consular and political posts in Argentina, Costa Rica, Germany, Guatemala (on loan to the USAID mission), Mexico and Peru (as USAID deputy director and chief of the economic section). He also served in Washington, D.C., from 1968 to 1973 as office director for Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay affairs and office director for Ecuador and Peru affairs. During this time, he was selected for the Senior Seminar, an advanced program of study offered by the Foreign Service Institute to an elite group of foreign policy officials. Mr. Stedman was appointed U.S. ambassador to Bolivia in 1973 and served until 1977. He then served as deputy assis- tant secretary of State for inter-American affairs until his retirement in 1978. After retirement, Ambassador Stedman embarked on a second career promoting Latin American leadership and develop- ment as senior policy adviser for Partners of the Americas, where he directed its fellows program from 1984 to 2009. He served on the board of directors of the Bolivian Power Company and on the board of governors of DACOR. He was also treasurer of the Senior Seminar Alumni Association. Amb. Stedman ran the speaker pro- gram for the Ford Latin America Group for many years. In 2006, he received the DACOR Foreign Service Cup in recogni- tion of his extensive activities in foreign affairs over the 25 years since 1981. Amb. Stedman was predeceased by his wife, Jay (Janet A.), in 1994. He is survived by their children Diana (Donaldson) of Glenside, Pa., James Sted- man of Silver Spring, Md., and Lawrence Stedman of Vestal, N.Y.; two grandchil- dren; and two great-grandchildren. n Robert W. Weise Jr., 100, a retired Foreign Service officer, died on Feb. 1 in Uniontown, Pa., of atherosclerotic vascu- lar disease. Mr. Weise was born in Golden Valley, Minn., on April 10, 1917, the only child of Lillian Kuhnert and Robert Walther Weise. Mr. Weise received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Minnesota in 1937 and a master’s degree from the London School of Economics in 1940. He joined the State Department For- eign Service in 1941 and served in Chile, Panama, Bolivia, Italy, Spain and Wash- ington, D.C. Mr. Weise also served in the U.S. Navy Reserves from 1944 to 1946, retiring as a commander. After his retirement from the State Department in 1965, Mr. Weise went to work for the Department of Health and Human Services from 1966 to 1979. A charter member of Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Bethesda, Md., Mr. Weise sang in the choir for more than 20 years. He was a member of Minneapolis Lodge No. 19 for 72 years. He was also active in his community garden club and was a member of the Bethesda Country Club. He was a philat- elist and numismatist who also enjoyed reading, golf, bridge, opera, gardening and travel. He spoke Spanish, French, Italian, German, Portuguese and some Swedish Mr. Weise was predeceased by his wife, Ingrid B. Weise, and son Carl Weise. He is survived by his partner, Mary Lou J. Resko of Rockville, Md.; his son, Robert W. Weise III of Kent, Conn.; and grand- daughters Jennifer Weise of NewMar- ket, Md. and Angela Sandberg (and her spouse, Eric) of South Jordon, Utah. If you would like us to include an obituary in In Memory, please send text to journal@afsa.org. Be sure to include the date, place and cause of death, as well as details of the individual’s Foreign Service career. Please place the name of the AFSA member to be memorialized in the subject line of your email. n