The Foreign Service Journal, November 2020

86 NOVEMBER 2020 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL n Martin (Marty) Phillip Adams , 72, a retired Foreign Service officer, died on July 9 of complications from pancreatic cancer. Mr. Adams was born in 1948 in Lan- sing, Mich. After pursuing a doctorate in European history and briefly working at the Social Security Administration, he joined the Foreign Service in 1977. His first posting was Afghanistan, where with the kidnapping and killing of U.S. Ambassador Adolph “Spike” Dubs and the subsequent Soviet invasion, he confronted some of the toughest chal- lenges of a true hardship post. After language training, he was posted to Turkey from 1981 to 1987, first at U.S. Embassy Ankara and then at the consul- ate in Izmir. Then, after a short tour in Washington, D.C., he was posted to Burma where he served as a political officer, discreetly interacting with government opposition figures despite the repressive military junta. Returning to Washington in 1991, Mr. Adams first served in the State Depart- ment’s Office of Defense Relations and Security Assistance, and then transferred to the Turkish desk in the European/ Southeastern Europe office. Follow- ing Georgian language training, he was posted as deputy chief of mission in Tbilisi from 1997 to 1999. On his return to Washington, Mr. Adams was deputy director of the Office of International Security Operations in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs until late August 2001. On Sept. 11, 2001, he was in the Cairo airport on the way to his next (and last) Foreign Service tour, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Arriving in the aftermath of 9/11, Mr. Adams helped facilitate U.S. military operations in the region. As he prepared to retire from the For- eign Service in 2003, the U.S. Navy invited him to begin a new Civil Service career as political adviser to the commander of the Fifth Fleet in Manama, Bahrain. There, from 2003 to 2014, Mr. Adams drew on his Foreign Service experience, and his large circle of friends and col- leagues, to ensure that peaceful naval operations in the Persian Gulf did not accidentally trigger conflict with Iran. In 2014 Mr. Adams retired from gov- ernment service. He spent the rest of his life educating and informing friends and others of developments in Turkey, the Middle East and Afghanistan, as well as guest lecturing at universities. He split his time between the United States and Australia, where he lived in the Snowy Mountains with his extended fam- ily and beloved local fauna. His ashes will be interred in a spot he chose in Australia. Mr. Adams is survived by his godchil- dren, Fiona and Pélagie, and a diverse family acquired during his Foreign Ser- vice career. n Pierce Kendall Bullen , 85, a retired Foreign Service officer, died peacefully, surrounded by his family, on May 4 in the Springmoor Life Care Retirement Com- munity in Raleigh, N.C. Pierce Bullen was, above all, a devoted husband who gave his wife, Helene, 65 years of the greatest happiness. He was a most loving and involved father who led by example and became his children’s close adult friend. He met his final three years, when he was seriously ill, with the patience and grace he showed all his life. Mr. Bullen was born in 1935 to Ripley and Adelaide Bullen. After attending Phillips Academy (Andover), he earned his bachelor’s, with high honors, and master’s degrees in political science at the University of Florida. He was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He later studied in Swit- zerland and took the advanced econom- ics course in the State Department. After joining the Foreign Service in 1958, Mr. Bullen served in Beirut, at the Foreign Service Institute; Dhahran; Cairo; Rabat; Ouagadougou, where he was deputy chief of mission; Caracas, where he was also the school board president of an American school; and Madrid. In Caracas and Madrid, he served as eco- nomic counselor. In Washington, D.C., Mr. Bullen served as director of Arabic-language broadcasts at the Voice of America. He was a member of two bilateral negotia- tions on natural gas imports (Mexico and France) and U.S. representative to the international meetings on issues of energy-consuming countries. He served as lead economics profes- sor at the National War College (Fort McNair), where he also taught interna- tional relations and U.S. political and governmental systems. Through NWC, he especially enjoyed accompanying a group of students to Eastern Europe each year. After a 37-year diplomatic career, Mr. Bullen retired in 1995. He went on to teach economics at Georgetown Univer- sity’s Continuing Education Department, run his real estate business and travel. Other interests included current events, music, bridge and reading about all aspects of the world. He was known for his calm, reasoned approach to his work, his extensive knowledge, his ability to explain complex economic concepts, and his dry wit. Mr. Bullen is survived by wife, Helene; children Grace, Peter, Philip and Kendall, and their spouses Margie Sved, Aingeal O’Donoghue, Mary Jane Bullen and Jack Frost; and grandchildren Sara, Eliana, Zachary, Fionnuala and Elyse. He was predeceased by his brother and sister-in- law, Dana and Joyce Bullen. IN MEMORY