RODERICK ENGERT

Roderick Morrison Engert   (1925 - 2018)  
On January 2, 2018, following a brief illness, Roderick Engert, 92, passed away at Sibley Hospital with family beside him. The son of a career Foreign Service Officer, Cornelius Van Hemert Engert and Sara Cunningham Engert, Roderick was born in El Salvador in 1925 and spent his early years in Chile, Venezuela, China, Egypt, Ethiopia and Iran. He was educated at Harrow School, England and received a B.A. in International Relations from Yale University in 1950. He served in the U.S. Army, OSS, 1944-46, in the China Burma India Theater, and was later a military historian with the U.S. Department of the Army. After a career spanning more than 30 years, he retired in 1985, receiving the Army's Meritorious Civilian Service Award - one of the U.S. Army's highest civilian honors. Roderick married Jane Soule in 1953 and they raised three children in Washington, DC. They were married 42 years when, sadly, Jane died of cancer in 1996. Four years later, Roderick married Elizabeth Hurst Southcott, whom he had met at River Road Presbyterian Church, where both were active members and served on the Session. They later joined the Chevy Chase Presbyterian Church, were regular theater-goers, and enjoyed outings to concerts and museums. Unfortunately, less than three years after they had married, his second wife, Elizabeth, also died of cancer. In addition to two beloved wives, Roderick was preceded in death by his sister, Sheila Gillen, of Rochester, New York. He is survived by his family who misses him: his children, William Engert of Washington, DC, Jane Engert, of Eugene, Oregon, Jamie Engert of Montreal, Canada and a daughter-in-law, and grand-daughter, Lise Coderre, and Catherine Engert also of Montreal, as well as four nieces and a nephew, and nine great nieces and nephews. A memorial service will be held at Chevy Chase Presbyterian Church Washington, DC on March 10th at 3 p.m. and a graveside ceremony will take place in Middlebury, Connecticut in June. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Partners in Health, or the charity of your choosing.