CHARLES COGAN

COGAN--Charles.

Charles Galligan "Chuck" Cogan, Gentleman Spy, Scholar. 11 January 1928 - 14 December 2017. Dr. Cogan died peacefully of natural causes in his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on 14 December 2017, one month away from his 90th birthday. Dr. Cogan was a dedicated professional with a life-long interest in international affairs. He was as focused on his work and his research as ever, always with an eye on his next project. He spent the first decades of his professional life with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). From 1954 to 1991, he had overseas tours in Asia, Africa and Europe; he was Chief of the Near East South Asia Division in the Directorate of Operations from 1979-84, and his last overseas posting was in Paris from 1984-89. He transited from his agency life to his writing/academic career undertaking a Harvard Research Fellowship in the Intelligence and Policy Project, a joint and unclassified undertaking between the CIA and the Kennedy School. Afterward, he received a doctorate of Public Administration at Harvard, and then went on to spend the next 25 years as an academic and writer. Dr. Cogan was born in Melrose Massachusetts, and was one of three children born to Mary and John Cogan. He attended Harvard University, graduating Magna Cum Laude with a BA in History in 1949. He served with the US Army Signal Corps during the Korean War before joining the CIA. Dr. Cogan published eight books in English and French, for the most part delving into the Franco/American relationship and series of essays, La Republique de Dieu (on the idea of God; on evangelism; on Islamic fundamentalism; followed by empirical chapters analyzing a number of conflicts between the Muslim and non-Muslim world: Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Israel/Palestine). He blogged extensively for the Huffington Post, contributed to a variety of publications and continued to write poetry. At Harvard, he was a visiting scholar at the John M. Olin Center for Strategic Studies, and an Associate at the Charles Warren Center, the JFK School of Government, the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, and an Affiliate at the Center for European Affairs. The French government in 2007 made him an Officer in the French Order of the Legion d'honneur, and he was a recipient of the Intelligence Medal of Merit (1968, 1981), a Commandeur du Ouissam Alaouite, Morocco (1983), a recipient of the Distinguished Intelligence Medal (1989), an Officer in the French Order of Academic Palms (2003) and was awarded a Medal of the Prix Ernest Lemonon of the Academie des Sciences Morales et Politiques (ASMP) of the Institut de France, for the book "Diplomatie la francaise" (2006). He is survived by his wife, Susan Yoder Cogan, son Geoffrey (children Dylan and Jason), daughters Lissa (children, Michaela and Kaelinn, and great-grandchildren, Denice, Napoleon, Ezra and Josie) and Abbie (Evelyn), and his brother John F. Cogan Jr. Memorial services are planned in Boston and Washington, D.C. early next year.