DUEMLING The Honorable ROBERT W. DUEMLING Died on July 13, 2012 of Leukemia. He was born on February 8, 1929; son of Dr. Werner W. Duemling and Anne Lindemulder Duemling. He spent his youth in Ft. Wayne, Indiana and San Diego, California. He attended Yale University earning a B.A. degree with honors in American Studies in 1950 and an M.A. in the history of art and architecture in 1953. For the academic year 1950-51 he was awarded a Henry Fellowship to study architecture and architectural history at St. John's College, Cambridge University, England. From 1953 to 1957 Duemling served as an Air Intelligence Officer in the U.S. navy. His responsibilities involved mission planning for a heavy-attach aircraft squadron, and he served aboard aircraft carries in the westen Pacific ocean and at a naval air station in Japan. He resigned from the Navy in 1957, having attained the rank of Lieutenant Senior Grade. In the fall of 1957 Duemling entered the Foreign Service of the United States, commencing a career of thirty years. He specialized in political affairs in the Far East region, with assignments in Kuala Lumpur, Kuching (Borneo), Osaka and Tokyo, and as executive assistant to the head of the East Asia Bureau of the State Department. Other postings abroad included Rome (1960-63), Ottawa (deputy chief of mission 1976-80) and as U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Suriname (1982-84). As a senior officer in the Department of State, Duemling served as Executive assistant to the Deputy Secretary of State (1974-76); as principal negotiator for assembling the foreign military components of the Sinai peace-keeping force (Multilateral Force and Observers, 1981-82); and as Director of the Nicaraguan Humanitarian Assistance Office (1985-87). Duemling retired from the Foreign Service in 1987 to accept the position of President and Director of the National Building Museum in Washington, DC, a post he held for six and one-half years. The museum was a fledging institution (opened in 1985) and the period of his tenure was devoted to defining and establishing the museum's mission to celebrate American achievements in all aspects of the built environment, and to complete restoration and renovation of the historic Pension Building to meet the physical requirements for museum operations. Duemling has had a long relationship with Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland, having served as a Senior Fellow and as a member of the Board of Visitors and Governors (1991-96). Through the period 2000-2004, the College invited him to teach a survey course on the history of American architecture. In addition to professional activities, Duemling has been actively association with several civic and charitable organizations, including- in Washington, DC - the National Gallery of Art, the Washington National Monument Society, the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, the Washington Tennis and Education Foundation, the national Trust For Historic Preservation and the Senior Living Foundation of the American Foreign Service. Based elsewhere, the Society of Architectural Historians, the Center for Palladian Studies in America, the American Friends of Canada and the Royal Society for the Arts (UK). Duemling's honors and awards include an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Washington College, Superior and Meritorious Awards from the Department of State, Honorable Order of the Palm of the Republic of Suriname and the National Service Award of the American Institute of Architects. Duemling is a member of the Metropolitan and Alibi Clubs in Washington, DC; the Century Association in New York City, and the Confrerie des Chevaliers du Tastevin (Washington chapter). In 1982 Robert Duemling married Louisa DuPont Copeland and they reside in Washington, DC and Worton, MD. Memorial Service will be held in September in Washington, DC.
Published in The Washington Post from July 16 to July 19, 2012
