American Diplomacy announces with deep regret the loss of two former members of its board. Roy M. Melbourne and Carl R. Fritz were among the founders of the journal and they contributed greatly to its success and even survival during its early days. As representatives of this country abroad during their previous careers, they both had displayed devotion and energy of which their families and all of us can be proud.
Dr. Roy Melbourne died on February 6, 2007, after a short illness in Durham, North Carolina, at the age of ninety-three after a career which combined academic achievement and diplomacy. He was born in 1913 in Philadelphia. He attended the University of Pennsylvania, received an MA from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and later returned to the University of Pennsylvania for his Ph.D. Roy was also a graduate of the National War College (now the National Defense University).
In Washington, Dr. Melbourne headed the State Department’s Yugoslav-Balkan Affairs desk at the time of the Tito-Stalin rift and was staff director of the Operations Coordinating Board, the office responsible for developing interagency plans for carrying out National Security Council policy decisions. He also was dean of the Department of State’s School of Foreign Affairs which handles the professional training of Foreign Service officers and staff. Dr. Melbourne was director of West African Affairs and chairman of the Interagency Task Force supervising American activities in connection with the Nigerian Civil War. He also served as acting deputy commandant for International Affairs at the National Defense University.
Abroad, Dr. Melbourne began his career in Montreal in 1937 and served subsequently in Japan (where he was interned after Pearl Harbor), Turkey, Rumania, Italy, Iran, Switzerland, Finland, and Iraq. His Foreign Service career spanned thirty-five years and he achieved the rank of minister counselor.
After retirement. Dr. Melbourne taught at Newberry College in Newberry, SC and on World Campus Afloat, the University of Pittsburgh’s Semester at Sea. He was also Diplomat in Residence at Duke. His publications include a book entitled Conflict and Crisis – A Foreign Service Story, published in 1997, and numerous articles on international affairs and diplomacy.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Virginia, and a daughter, Virginia Melbourne. He is survived by his daughters, Lucy Lauretta Melbourne, Janice Melbourne Chalaron, and Hope Emily Melbourne. A Memorial Service was held on February 12 at Duham, North Carolina. Interment will take place in the Foreign Service section of the Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington, D.C.
Carl R. Fritz, a long time participant in American foreign aid programs, died at Chapel Hill, N. C, on February 4, 2007, at the age of eighty-three after a long illness. He was born on September 26,1923, in Tiffin, Ohio. Carl earned an AB at Heidelberg College in 1948 after three years in the Army Air Corps in World War 11. His stint in the military included service overseas in China. Carl received a master’s degree in international affairs at Columbia University in 1951. He also attended the Foreign Service Institute’s Mid-Career Course, a one-semester program at the John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and won a one-year Woodrow Wilson Fellowship at Princeton.
Carl’s subsequent twenty-five-year career with U.S. foreign aid agencies, beginning with the Point IV Program, took him to India, Sri Lanka, East Africa, Viet Nam, and Thailand. During this period he worked as a project analyst and planner, researcher, and administrator, retiring in 1976 as Director of Program Planning in the Technical Assistance Bureau of the Agency for International Development in Washington.
After retiring from A.I.D. in 1976, Mr. Fritz worked as a private consultant on projects in Indonesia until 1987, ending his duties there as leader of an international team of agricultural research advisors. In 1988-9 he held a similar position in Bangladesh and from 1990-91 he coordinated preparations for the International Conference on Health, Education and Development concerned with reducing infant mortality.
Carl was active in civic affairs wherever he was living. In Chapel Hill he was, among other things, president of the Research Triangle chapter of the Society for International Development, commander of the Chapel Hill post of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and president of the Chapel Hill area chapter of the American Association of Retired Persons. His publications include Combating Nutritional Blindness in Children: A Case Study of Technical Assistance in Indonesia, and many articles concerning foreign assistance.
Carl Fritz is survived by this wife, Tarinee, and four children. A memorial service will be held at 2 pm. Sunday, February 18, in Chapel Hill.
William N. Dale