Robert Martin

1931 - 2019

Robert Alan Martin

It is with profound sadness that his family announces the death of Robert Alan Martin on July 22 at home in Menlo Park, California, after a three -year courageous, multi-treatment defiance of cancer. A native of the Philadelphia area, Bob was born in 1931 to Dr. William Lemmon Martin and Marian Miller Martin. Upon graduation from Episcopal and Andover Academies, he studied international relations at Yale. Drafted later that year, he served with U.S. Army intelligence in Germany, followed by law school at the University of Pennsylvania.
In 1959, Bob arrived in Washington, DC to begin an exciting, rewarding 35-year career as a Foreign Service Officer working principally on arms control and other national security issues at the Department of State. Initially assigned to the U.S. disarmament delegation in Geneva, he was later posted to NATO headquarters in Brussels. Arriving in Vietnam during the final year of the war, he was evacuated from Saigon off the roof of the American Embassy on April 29, 1975.
Continuing an adventurous series of assignments, he was part of an U.S. delegation in Moscow negotiating a nuclear treaty, followed by two years in the late-1970's in Tehran at our embassy directing political/military relations with the pre-revolutionary Iranian government—luckily reassigned from the country just weeks before his former colleagues were taken hostage. Subsequently, he was posted to Frankfurt for four years to implement a presidential initiative establishing an U.S. counter-terrorism response team in Europe.
Bob was of the generation for whom being a member of the Foreign Service was an unquestioned dedicated, lifetime commitment to service. He loved every minute of it! He felt fortunate to serve our country during an exceptional era of American optimism and accomplishment. Retirement to California in the late 1990's enhanced Bob's opportunity for travel abroad—many trips visiting old friends and new countries. At home, art collecting, principally mid-20th century British painters (and bow ties), and local volunteer activities provided him continuing enjoyment. Bob leaves his wife, Joanna Witzel Martin; his sister, Barbara Martin Pettinos of Malvern, PA, nieces, nephews, and his sister-in-law Christine Witzel of Palo Alto, CA.