The Foreign Service Journal, December 2012

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | DECEMBER 2012 43 IN MEMORY n Melvin T.L. Ang , 68, a retired For- eign Service officer, died on March 6 in San Rafael, Calif., following a long battle with cancer. Mr. Ang was born on July 29, 1943, and grew up in a family of Chinese restau- rateurs and laundrymen in the Roxbury area of Boston, Mass. He earned a place at Boston Latin School and then won a scholarship to attend Dartmouth Col- lege. After graduating in 1965, he taught at Chung Chi College in Hong Kong for two years, where he met his future wife, Wende Tsang. Mr. Ang earned an M.A. in East Asian studies from the University of Michigan in 1969 and embarked on a career as a college professor at Salisbury State Uni- versity in Maryland. He earned his Ph.D. in history from the University of Pennsyl- vania in 1983. Mr. Ang joined the Foreign Service in 1987. His 23-year career included overseas postings in Shenyang, Baghdad, Riyadh, Beirut, Guangzhou and Taipei. He served twice in Baghdad, from 1989 to 1990 and again from 2009 to 2010; on the first occasion, he received the first of two Superior Honor Awards for his coura- geous work in evacuating civilians from Kuwait during the Persian Gulf War. He also served in various roles at the State Department; as a congressional fellow in the office of Senator Diane Fein- stein, D-Calif.; and as a political adviser to the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. Mr. Ang intended to return to teaching after retirement, but was not able to real- ize that aspiration because he was diag- nosed with cancer while serving his final tour in Baghdad in June 2010. He was a faithful Red Sox fan, always enjoyed a good meal and is fondly remembered for his wide-ranging curiosity, self-deprecat- ing manner and dry sense of humor. Mr. Ang is survived by his wife of 42 years, Wende (Tsang) Ang, of San Rafael, Calif.; their daughter and son-in-law, Jen- nifer Ang and Ewan Stein of Edinburgh, Scotland; and their granddaughters, Maisie and Rosemary. n Peter P. Bielak Sr. , 91, a retired FSO with the United States Information Agency, died on Oct. 10 at Carteret Gen- eral Hospital in Morehead City, N.C. Mr. Bielak was born to Frances and Michael J. Bielak on June 29, 1921, in Rockville, Conn. An extreme fever at age 17 caused him to lose all of his hair, and he remained bald for the rest of his life. Trained in Texas, he was a B-24 Air Force pilot during World War II. Fol- lowing the war, he graduated from the University of Nebraska with a bachelor’s degree in journalism, later earning a master’s degree in public affairs at the University of Oklahoma. He worked as a reporter in Wyoming and Connecticut before joining the State Department and USIA in 1955. He married Helen Grabowski of Manchester, Conn., shortly thereafter. Mr. Bielak’s first Foreign Service post- ing was Kabul, where he served until 1959. His next assignment was Addis Ababa, where he worked with then- ruler Haile Selassie until 1962. Rosario, Argentina, where he served from 1962 to 1965, was one of his favorite posts. From 1965 to 1967, he had an unaccompanied assignment in Saigon where, among other responsibilities, he was an escort for the actor John Wayne, who was there filming “The Green Berets.” After serving in Panama City (1968- 1970), he returned to Washington, D.C., to help with the Vietnamese relocation program (1970-1973) and then was posted to Guayaquil, where he survived a kidnapping threat from an extrem- ist group. From 1977 to 1980, he served as chargé d’affaires in Maseru, cover- ing Kenya, the Congo, Swaziland and Botswana. He returned to Washington, D.C., for what he thought was his final posting, working with the Organization of Ameri- can States until 1983. But on the strength of his extensive experience in South and Central America, he was asked one week before his retirement to accept a two-year posting to San Salvador, which he did. After retiring in 1984, Mr. Bielak settled in Chevy Chase, Md., where he worked with his son at International Trophy. He was affiliated with the Inter- national Lions Club, Boy Scouts, Miami Shell Club, N.E. Covered Bridge Pres- ervation Association, various journalist organizations and the Catholic Church, and enjoyed flea marketing and stamp collecting. Mr. Bielak’s wife, Helen, passed away in 1996. He moved to North Carolina to be with his daughter in 2008. He is survived by his son, Peter P. Bielak of Bethesda, Md., and his daugh- ter, Elizabeth Mary Bielak of Morehead City, N.C. n Samuel V. Brock , 60, a 29-year vet- eran of the Foreign Service and minister counselor for political affairs at Embassy Ottawa, died on Oct. 24. A native of Virginia, Mr. Brock joined the State Department in 1983 and served overseas in Seoul, Praia, Algiers, Mexico City, Cotonou, Marseille and Kinshasa. Assignments in Washington, D.C., included service as director of North American affairs at the National Security Council from 2002 to 2003 and four tours in the Bureau of International Organiza- tion Affairs, including assignments as interim director of the Office of United Nations Political Affairs and as director of the Office of United Nations Educational,