The Foreign Service Journal, November 2015

84 NOVEMBER 2015 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL “[Petree] was fully prepared to serve loyally under Kirkpatrick but … found himself left out of the inner circle.” Amb. Petree served as the first presi- dent of the U.S.-Japan Foundation from 1981 until 1988. He was an active member of the Council on Foreign Relations and lectured at small U.S. colleges under the WoodrowWilson Fellowship Program. Amb. Petree is survived by his wife of 67 years, Virginia; three children: RichardW. Petree Jr. of New York City, Susan H. Petree of Newport, R.I., and Daniel H. Petree of Rancho Santa Fe, Calif.; six grandchildren: Sarah Petree, Catherine Petree, Emily Petree, Isabel Petree, Laura Petree and Richard Emir Petree; and brothers, Lt. Col. Bruce E. Petree (USA, ret.) and Cdr. Noel H. Petree (USN, ret.). n Robert A. Senser, 94, an FSO and organized labor official, died of Parkin- son’s disease on July 29 at his home in Reston, Va. Mr. Senser was born on July 21, 1921, in Chicago, Ill. He served in the U.S. Army during WorldWar II in positions as a cryp- tographic technician and a public relations specialist before being honorably dis- charged as a staff sergeant (1942-1945). He was also enlisted in the Air Force Reserve and was a first lieutenant when he was honorably discharged in 1957. He earned a B.S. in social science fromChicago’s Loyola University, where he attended late afternoon and evening classes while working full-time. Mr. Senser joined the Foreign Service in 1961. His postings included Algiers, Bonn, Brussels and Saigon as a labor attaché. After leaving the department in 1983, he spent a decade as programdirector for the AFL-CIO’s Asian-American Free Labor Institute. Two important strands ran through nearly all of his jobs: a basic concern for human rights and a fondness for writing. The two strands came together early. While still in high school, he wrote a feature on a blind Boy Scout troop that was published in This Week and an exposé for Common- weal on how a corrupt union leader got his father fired. His writing skills and human rights concerns served himwell in the major jobs he held, such as assistant editor of Work , published by the Catholic Council on Working Life in Chicago. In retirement, Mr. Senser was active in the Washington, D.C.-based Child Labor Coalition and the International Commit- tee for Human Rights in Vietnam. In the summer of 1995, he worked pro bono on an AFL-CIO campaign that helped win the release of activist Harry Wu from a jail in China. He also traveled to various Asian countries to gather first-person accounts of factory conditions, which helped generate public awareness of sweatshops and the struggles of laborers. In early 1996, Mr. Senser launched a website, Human Rights for Workers (www. senser.com ), dedicated to exploring how globalization affects working men and women. In early 2008, it evolved into a blog (www.humanrightsforworkers.blogspot . com), which he maintained until 2012. His book Justice at Work: Globaliza- tion and the Human Rights of Workers (Xlibris, 2009) has served as a college textbook. Mr. Senser was predeceased by his parents, Anton and Frieda Senser, and his sister, Louise Middleton. He is survived by his wife, Dzung Senser; children: Thuy Senser (and his wife, Kelly), Sonny Senser, Han Arthurs and Tony Senser (and his wife, Monika Kelley); grandchildren: Anton Arthurs (fiancé Ciara West), Levi Arthurs, Mai Senser andThuy Robert Senser; and sister, Frances Denver.