The Foreign Service Journal, October 2012

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | OCTOBER 2012 69 office director for Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. In that role, he traveled often to Afghanistan to meet with the various factions and warlords. Opposing the conventional wisdom of the intel- ligence community, he predicted the rise of the Taliban and the fall of Kabul. After years trying to get the government to pay attention to Afghanistan, Mr. Coldren retired from the Foreign Service in 1997 and moved to Sacramento. In retirement, he continued an active involvement in international affairs, par- ticipating in United Nations–sponsored Afghanistan meetings and appearing on local radio and television stations to explain Afghan issues to a broader audi- ence. He also wrote an annual Ground- hog Day roundup of family events and of travels with his wife, Mary. He is survived by his wife, Mary Czechan Coldren, of Sacramento, and his four beloved children: Daryl, Malcolm, Wali and Clea. n George Per Fourier , 69, a former Foreign Service officer, died on March 4 at his residence in Delicias de Cobana, Costa Rica. Mr. Fourier was born on Jan. 18, 1943, in Portland, Ore., where he attended the Catlin Gabel School. He earned a B.A. degree fromWilliams College and wrote his senior honors thesis completely in Russian, about the novel War and Peace . During college, he took a year off to learn German in Munich. During this time he purchased a Mercedes 190SL roadster, which he drove fromMunich to Jerusa- lem and back. He next earned an M.A. from Stanford University with highest honors in Slavic studies, and twice served as student coor- dinator of an exchange program between Stanford and the University of Warsaw, the first such exchange program between a private American university and a com- munist university. His research was on two Polish theater of the absurd play- wrights, Slawomir Mrozek and Witkacy. On entering the Foreign Service, Mr. Fourier’s first posting was as vice consul in Tehran (1972-1974). During this period, he was sent to Damascus to assist in visits by Henry Kissinger, who was negotiating the end of the Yom Kip- pur War.