By Tom Long, The Boston Globe (19 March 1998)
Edmund A. Gullion, a former Foreign Service officer who trained a generation of diplomats as dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, died Tuesday night in his home in Winchester. He was 85.
Mr. Gullion was ambassador to the Congo from 1961 to 1964, during turbulent years when a socialist government assumed power and the country became a focal point of Cold War intrigue. In a New York Times story published April 15, 1964, he was described as "the epitome of the foreign office professional. Soft-spoken and articulate, he is a master of gentlemanly discourse," the article said.
"His French is as impeccable as his tailoring. His dispatches are written with clarity but also with a conscious elegance of style. He has seen duty in the great capitals of the world and has served in Washington in high posts," it said. "He has been a policy planner in the State Department and in the months preceding his assignment to the Congo he was immersed in the complexities of negotiations with the Soviets as head of the US Arms Control and Disarmament Agency."
Mr. Gullion was vice consul in Salonika, Greece, from 1939 until April 9, 1941, when German tanks rolled into the city and occupied it during World War II. He remembered the day well.
"I came back to my office to find it crowded by some 150 Greek Jews who had taken refuge there," he said in a Globe story published July 8, 1984. 'Together we watched the column of Germans drive up the shore drive, red banners with swastikas spread over the hoods of their cars.
"A few blocks away, a Jewish-owned department store was being plundered, and dozens of people were crowding the seawall, hoping to get away by boat."
During the first few months of the occupation, the Jews did not fare badly, Mr. Gullion said. But when the crunch came, it came with a vengeance. "None of the people in that room survived," he said, referring to his office.
The Germans took Mr. Gullion prisoner for several weeks until diplomats in captivity were exchanged. He then became chargé d'affaires in the US Embassy in Helsinki until German troops occupied the city in June 1944.
He was a native of Lexington, Ky. In 1931, as a high school senior, he won a national oratory contest in Washington, D.C., with his address on "John Marshall and Federal Supremacy." He graduated from Princeton University in 1935.
After retiring from the Foreign Service, he was dean of the Fletcher School, the nation's oldest school of diplomacy, from 1964 to 1978.
He often said he might have become a journalist had he not entered the foreign service.
At Tufts, he established the Edward R. Murrow Center, where journalists including David Halberstam, the author of "The Best and the Brightest," have visited to research, write, and teach.
John R. Galvin, a former NATO commander and the current dean of. the Fletcher School, said he learned much from Mr. Gullion when Mr. Galvin was a fellow at the school in the early '70s.
"Many of the ways I conduct myself as dean now stem from my admiration for him," Galvin said. "He, was always interested in students; and was a good leader with a clear, vision of the role that Fletcher; should play in helping students! achieve a global perspective."
Thomas R. Pickering, a Fletcher School graduate and undersecretary of state for political affairs, said Mr. Gullion "was greatly admired as one of the first senior-level diplomats who took in interest in arms control. He was a father figure to us all."
Mr. Gullion leaves his wife, Patricia (Palmer).
Funeral arrangements are private. A memorial service is being planned.
Edmund A. Gullion, a former Foreign Service officer who trained a generation of diplomats as dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, died Tuesday night in his home in Winchester. He was 85.
Mr. Gullion was ambassador to the Congo from 1961 to 1964, during turbulent years when a socialist government assumed power and the country became a focal point of Cold War intrigue. In a New York Times story published April 15, 1964, he was described as "the epitome of the foreign office professional. Soft-spoken and articulate, he is a master of gentlemanly discourse," the article said.
"His French is as impeccable as his tailoring. His dispatches are written with clarity but also with a conscious elegance of style. He has seen duty in the great capitals of the world and has served in Washington in high posts," it said. "He has been a policy planner in the State Department and in the months preceding his assignment to the Congo he was immersed in the complexities of negotiations with the Soviets as head of the US Arms Control and Disarmament Agency."
Mr. Gullion was vice consul in Salonika, Greece, from 1939 until April 9, 1941, when German tanks rolled into the city and occupied it during World War II. He remembered the day well.
"I came back to my office to find it crowded by some 150 Greek Jews who had taken refuge there," he said in a Globe story published July 8, 1984. 'Together we watched the column of Germans drive up the shore drive, red banners with swastikas spread over the hoods of their cars.
"A few blocks away, a Jewish-owned department store was being plundered, and dozens of people were crowding the seawall, hoping to get away by boat."
During the first few months of the occupation, the Jews did not fare badly, Mr. Gullion said. But when the crunch came, it came with a vengeance. "None of the people in that room survived," he said, referring to his office.
The Germans took Mr. Gullion prisoner for several weeks until diplomats in captivity were exchanged. He then became chargé d'affaires in the US Embassy in Helsinki until German troops occupied the city in June 1944.
He was a native of Lexington, Ky. In 1931, as a high school senior, he won a national oratory contest in Washington, D.C., with his address on "John Marshall and Federal Supremacy." He graduated from Princeton University in 1935.
After retiring from the Foreign Service, he was dean of the Fletcher School, the nation's oldest school of diplomacy, from 1964 to 1978.
He often said he might have become a journalist had he not entered the foreign service.
At Tufts, he established the Edward R. Murrow Center, where journalists including David Halberstam, the author of "The Best and the Brightest," have visited to research, write, and teach.
John R. Galvin, a former NATO commander and the current dean of. the Fletcher School, said he learned much from Mr. Gullion when Mr. Galvin was a fellow at the school in the early '70s.
"Many of the ways I conduct myself as dean now stem from my admiration for him," Galvin said. "He, was always interested in students; and was a good leader with a clear, vision of the role that Fletcher; should play in helping students! achieve a global perspective."
Thomas R. Pickering, a Fletcher School graduate and undersecretary of state for political affairs, said Mr. Gullion "was greatly admired as one of the first senior-level diplomats who took in interest in arms control. He was a father figure to us all."
Mr. Gullion leaves his wife, Patricia (Palmer).
Funeral arrangements are private. A memorial service is being planned.
By Tom Long, The Boston Globe (19 March 1998)
Edmund A. Gullion, a former Foreign Service officer who trained a generation of diplomats as dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, died Tuesday night in his home in Winchester. He was 85.
Mr. Gullion was ambassador to the Congo from 1961 to 1964, during turbulent years when a socialist government assumed power and the country became a focal point of Cold War intrigue. In a New York Times story published April 15, 1964, he was described as "the epitome of the foreign office professional. Soft-spoken and articulate, he is a master of gentlemanly discourse," the article said.
"His French is as impeccable as his tailoring. His dispatches are written with clarity but also with a conscious elegance of style. He has seen duty in the great capitals of the world and has served in Washington in high posts," it said. "He has been a policy planner in the State Department and in the months preceding his assignment to the Congo he was immersed in the complexities of negotiations with the Soviets as head of the US Arms Control and Disarmament Agency."
Mr. Gullion was vice consul in Salonika, Greece, from 1939 until April 9, 1941, when German tanks rolled into the city and occupied it during World War II. He remembered the day well.
"I came back to my office to find it crowded by some 150 Greek Jews who had taken refuge there," he said in a Globe story published July 8, 1984. 'Together we watched the column of Germans drive up the shore drive, red banners with swastikas spread over the hoods of their cars.
"A few blocks away, a Jewish-owned department store was being plundered, and dozens of people were crowding the seawall, hoping to get away by boat."
During the first few months of the occupation, the Jews did not fare badly, Mr. Gullion said. But when the crunch came, it came with a vengeance. "None of the people in that room survived," he said, referring to his office.
The Germans took Mr. Gullion prisoner for several weeks until diplomats in captivity were exchanged. He then became chargé d'affaires in the US Embassy in Helsinki until German troops occupied the city in June 1944.
He was a native of Lexington, Ky. In 1931, as a high school senior, he won a national oratory contest in Washington, D.C., with his address on "John Marshall and Federal Supremacy." He graduated from Princeton University in 1935.
After retiring from the Foreign Service, he was dean of the Fletcher School, the nation's oldest school of diplomacy, from 1964 to 1978.
He often said he might have become a journalist had he not entered the foreign service.
At Tufts, he established the Edward R. Murrow Center, where journalists including David Halberstam, the author of "The Best and the Brightest," have visited to research, write, and teach.
John R. Galvin, a former NATO commander and the current dean of. the Fletcher School, said he learned much from Mr. Gullion when Mr. Galvin was a fellow at the school in the early '70s.
"Many of the ways I conduct myself as dean now stem from my admiration for him," Galvin said. "He, was always interested in students; and was a good leader with a clear, vision of the role that Fletcher; should play in helping students! achieve a global perspective."
Thomas R. Pickering, a Fletcher School graduate and undersecretary of state for political affairs, said Mr. Gullion "was greatly admired as one of the first senior-level diplomats who took in interest in arms control. He was a father figure to us all."
Mr. Gullion leaves his wife, Patricia (Palmer).
Funeral arrangements are private. A memorial service is being planned.
Edmund A. Gullion, a former Foreign Service officer who trained a generation of diplomats as dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, died Tuesday night in his home in Winchester. He was 85.
Mr. Gullion was ambassador to the Congo from 1961 to 1964, during turbulent years when a socialist government assumed power and the country became a focal point of Cold War intrigue. In a New York Times story published April 15, 1964, he was described as "the epitome of the foreign office professional. Soft-spoken and articulate, he is a master of gentlemanly discourse," the article said.
"His French is as impeccable as his tailoring. His dispatches are written with clarity but also with a conscious elegance of style. He has seen duty in the great capitals of the world and has served in Washington in high posts," it said. "He has been a policy planner in the State Department and in the months preceding his assignment to the Congo he was immersed in the complexities of negotiations with the Soviets as head of the US Arms Control and Disarmament Agency."
Mr. Gullion was vice consul in Salonika, Greece, from 1939 until April 9, 1941, when German tanks rolled into the city and occupied it during World War II. He remembered the day well.
"I came back to my office to find it crowded by some 150 Greek Jews who had taken refuge there," he said in a Globe story published July 8, 1984. 'Together we watched the column of Germans drive up the shore drive, red banners with swastikas spread over the hoods of their cars.
"A few blocks away, a Jewish-owned department store was being plundered, and dozens of people were crowding the seawall, hoping to get away by boat."
During the first few months of the occupation, the Jews did not fare badly, Mr. Gullion said. But when the crunch came, it came with a vengeance. "None of the people in that room survived," he said, referring to his office.
The Germans took Mr. Gullion prisoner for several weeks until diplomats in captivity were exchanged. He then became chargé d'affaires in the US Embassy in Helsinki until German troops occupied the city in June 1944.
He was a native of Lexington, Ky. In 1931, as a high school senior, he won a national oratory contest in Washington, D.C., with his address on "John Marshall and Federal Supremacy." He graduated from Princeton University in 1935.
After retiring from the Foreign Service, he was dean of the Fletcher School, the nation's oldest school of diplomacy, from 1964 to 1978.
He often said he might have become a journalist had he not entered the foreign service.
At Tufts, he established the Edward R. Murrow Center, where journalists including David Halberstam, the author of "The Best and the Brightest," have visited to research, write, and teach.
John R. Galvin, a former NATO commander and the current dean of. the Fletcher School, said he learned much from Mr. Gullion when Mr. Galvin was a fellow at the school in the early '70s.
"Many of the ways I conduct myself as dean now stem from my admiration for him," Galvin said. "He, was always interested in students; and was a good leader with a clear, vision of the role that Fletcher; should play in helping students! achieve a global perspective."
Thomas R. Pickering, a Fletcher School graduate and undersecretary of state for political affairs, said Mr. Gullion "was greatly admired as one of the first senior-level diplomats who took in interest in arms control. He was a father figure to us all."
Mr. Gullion leaves his wife, Patricia (Palmer).
Funeral arrangements are private. A memorial service is being planned.
