Lyn Edinger

July 21, 2012

Lyn (Lynn) Ward Edinger, 63, a retired U.S. foreign service officer and distinguished "old China Hand," died on Saturday, July 21, at his home in Burlington, Otsego County. Mr. Edinger was born in Syracuse, New York, on July 29, 1948, the son of Ward I. and Doris (Tanner) Edinger. Ward Edinger was the first superintendent of the newly-formed Jamesville-DeWitt Central School district and the family resided in DeWitt for many years.

Mr. Edinger took his undergraduate degree from Princeton University, with Honors in history, in 1970. Following graduation, he accepted a Princeton-in-Asia Fellowship to teach at Nanyang University in Singapore from 1972 until 1975, during which time he achieved a fluency in Chinese. In 1975-1976, he completed a master's degree in economics and international relations at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

In 1976, Mr. Edinger was recruited by Peter Mero, president and CEO of the Extel Corporation, a Chicago-based telecommunications equipment company to set up and manage an Asia-Pacific Sales Region serving national news agencies, PTT authorities and government contractors in China, Singapore, Taiwan, Burma, Indonesia, India, Korea, Philippines and Hong Kong, and secured the first significant sales by any American company to the Chinese MPT and the New China News Agency.

In 1983, Mr. Edinger was invited by the U.S. Ambassador to Burma, Burton Levin, to join the U.S. Foreign Service as a career diplomat. Lyn served from 1983 to 1988 as the senior commercial officer in the U.S. Consulate General, Hong Kong, where he was responsible for trade promotion, export licensing and related issues at the Consulate, and was the liaison with the Hong Kong government on trade issues.

In 1988, Edinger was posted to the U.S. Embassy in Beijing as commercial counselor. He was responsible for all commercial officers and programs at posts throughout China, and bilateral negotiations on the Trade Development Program, the Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade, major projects, and export licensing. During the events of June 4, 1989, Mr. Edinger was dispatched by U.S. Ambassador to China, James R. Lilley, into the crisis area in and around Tiananmen Square to assess the extent of fatalities and to search out and evacuate American citizens and foreign service families and dependants. Mr. Edinger received a special Presidential commendation for his bravery and was described by the Ambassador as one of "the magnificent five who performed brilliantly and courageously during Tiananmen in June 1989."

On leaving the foreign service in 1989, Mr. Edinger returned to Hong Kong to take the post of managing director of Honeywell China, Inc., the Peoples Republic of China and Hong Kong operations of the world's largest manufacturer of process controls.

During late 1992, he joined the telecommunications giant Northern Telecom as regional VP for Business Development based in Hong Kong and negotiated market entry agreements for Nortel in both Vietnam and India.

In late 1994, Edinger moved to London, taking the role of VP at Nortel World Trade, the international headquarters of Northern Telecom. In this position he was responsible for all of Nortel's government relations and trade policy activities outside North America. He retired from Nortel Networks in 2003 as VP of International Business Development at corporate headquarters in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.

Throughout his many years in China, Hong Kong and Asia, Mr. Edinger was active in numerous trade associations and served a term as chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong at a time when the Chamber was the largest chapter outside the USA and considered the "most powerful" by Business Week. He was a principal spokesman of the American business community on China trade issues and led numerous delegations to Washington to expand trade with China, as well as Vietnam. As a member of the International Business Committee of the Hong Kong Government Secretariat, Mr. Edinger was an advisor to the last British governor of Hong Kong, Christopher Patton.

Upon Lyn's retirement, he and his wife "came home" from North Carolina to the Cooperstown/Burlington area, through which his ancestors had journeyed in the late 1700s on their way west.

Lyn was active in the Cooperstown Rotary, a supporter of the performing arts, including the Glimmerglass Opera and Opera Guild, and the Leatherstocking Theater Company, and a member of the President's Forum of the Friends of Bassett.

He is survived by his wife, Corinne Plummer; his son, Owen Tanner Edinger of Los Angeles, CA; sister, Dawn and husband, Michael Kimberly of Ithaca, NY; two nephews, Todd and Shawn Kimberly, and their families; and many dear cousins throughout the Syracuse and South Onondaga area.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, July 28, 2012, at 1 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church, 25 Church Street, Cooperstown, NY. A reception will follow at The Otesaga Resort Hotel in Cooperstown.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Cooperstown Rotary Foundation, P.O. Box 1271, Cooperstown, NY 13326 or to the charity of your choice.

Arrangements are by the Tillapaugh Funeral Service.