The Foreign Service Journal, November 2005

Air Corps during World War II, completed his studies at Columbia Law School. He joined the Foreign Service in 1946. Ambassador Mark served in South Korea, Finland, Romania and Mos- cow during the 1950s. He met his wife, Elisabeth Lewis Mark, in Mos- cow in 1958, where she headed the Anglo-American Elementary School. They married in Washington, D.C., in 1959 and moved to Geneva, where Amb. Mark joined the delegation to the Test Ban Treaty negotiations. In the early 1960s, he was assigned to Washington, D.C., as deputy head of the Intelligence and Research Bureau, and served in that capacity until his appointment as ambassador to Burun- di in 1974. From 1979 to 1981 he returned to Washington to serve as deputy assistant secretary of State. After retirement in 1981, he consulted on international affairs for Alcoa in Pittsburgh, Pa. A gifted linguist, Amb. Mark spoke fluent Russian, German and French, and was conversant in Portuguese, Spanish, Italian and Japanese. With the break-up of the Soviet Union and the dearth of Russian linguists, he was asked to help establish the American embassy in the former Soviet repub- lic of Georgia. He returned to Tbilisi in 1992 to assist the Georgians in writing their constitution. During the 1990s until his death, Amb. Mark was an active member of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City. He also volunteered every week for nine years as a guide and translator for Big Apple Greeters of New York, and worked full-time as a licensed New York City tour guide for Gray Line, sharing his love for the city with thousands of tourists each year in a number of languages. “He won the heart of every visitor he met or spoke with. At the Big Apple Greeter organization, he con- tinued to be an ambassador for our country to the rest of the world. The relief and the joy that visitors felt when Amb. Mark spoke to them, in their own language, was a gift never to be forgotten,” recalls Carolyn Stone, for- mer director of marketing and public relations at Big Apple Greeters. “I believe that the personal good will he spread around the globe has been a great benefit to all New Yorkers and all Americans. He made us all look good: kind, helpful, intelligent, educated, articulate and accomplished.” Amb. Mark also taught a variety of courses as an adjunct professor of global affairs at New York University. He is survived by his wife Elisabeth Mark of Leawood, Kan.; his children, Leslie Mark and Mark Eisemann of Leawood, Kan., Andrea and Adam Chiou of Fairfax, Va., and Clayton and Lisa Mark of Overland Park, Kan.; a niece, Elena Nantz Strunk; and seven grandchildren, Emma, Noah and Joshua Eisemann, Christie and Eric Chiou, and Olivia and Diana Mark. The family suggests donations in his memory be made to Big Apple Greeters, the Center for Global Affairs at NYU’s School of Continu- ing and Professional Studies, or the Council on Foreign Relations. Charles W. McCaskill , 82, a retired Foreign Service officer, died Aug. 13 at the Greenspring Retire- ment Home in Springfield, Va., where he lived. He had Parkinson’s disease. Born in Camden, S.C., Mr. McCaskill served in the Army in World War II. After graduating from The Citadel in Charleston, S.C., he received a master’s degree in history and political science from the University of South Carolina in 1950. He taught at USC from 1947 to 1948. Mr. McCaskill joined the State Department in 1950, and first served as a visa officer in Frankfurt. He returned to State in 1951, and in 1956 received his commission as an FSO, after which he was detailed to Prince- ton for Greek language and area stud- ies training. In 1957 he was posted to Salonika as a political officer, and three years later transferred to Nicosia as an economic officer (1960- 1964). He returned to Washington in 1964 as desk officer for Cyprus. He later served as political officer in Tehran from 1968 to 1972, as senior political officer in Bombay (1972- 1975) and consul general in Madras (1975-1978). His final overseas post- ing, from 1978 to 1982, was in Athens. Survivors include his wife of 58 years, Jacqueline H. McCaskill of Springfield, Va.; two sons, Charles W. McCaskill Jr. of Vienna, Va., and Stephen H. McCaskill of Richmond, Va.; and one grandson. Frank Charles Strovas , 67, a retired FSO, died Aug. 13 of pancre- atic cancer at his home in Somerset West, South Africa. Mr. Strovas was born in Oak Creek, Colo., into a small community of immigrants who came to America to escape the economic hardships in Europe. His parents had roots in Slo- venia, a Slavic enclave within the for- mer Austro-Hungarian Empire. Ini- tially coal miners, his grandfathers and his father and uncles worked hard and prospered. An excellent student, Mr. Strovas was awarded a scholarship that enabled him to continue higher education. He graduated from the University of Colorado with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. He worked as a newspaper 72 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 5 I N M E M O R Y u u u