Joseph Simpson Farland

JOSEPH SIMPSON FARLAND
1914-2007

Ambassador Joseph Simpson Farland of Winchester, Virginia died on January 28, 2007 at Shenandoah Valley Westminster-Canterbury. He was born in Clarksburg, West Virginia on August 11, 1914, the son of Richard A. Farland and Grace Simpson Farland. After attending grade school in Clarksburg, West Virginia and Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, he graduated from Washington Irving High School in 1932 and received a BA in Political Science from West Virginia University in 1936. Ambassador Farland received his Doctor’s Degree in Jurisprudence from West Virginia University in 1938. Subsequently, he completed special postgraduate studies at Princeton and Stanford University.

Ambassador Farland began federal service as a Special Agent in the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1942, thereafter became an officer in the United States Navy in 1944. Among other wartime duties he was given special training in strategic and geopolitical problems of the Far East, including Japanese language instruction. He completed his war service as Naval Liaison Officer with the Military Government Forces in Korea. Returning to civilian pursuits in 1946, he specialized in banking, corporate industrial development of natural resources, and taxation law, In addition to ownership in various coal companies, he became president of Farland Fuel Company, Farland Coal Corporation, and Christopher Fuel Corporation, which operated coal properties in northern West Virginia and western Maryland. His business interests also involved directorship in banks and bank holding companies, including Financial General, Washington, DC, First National Bank of Morgantown, Morgantown, West Virginia, and F & M National Corporation, Winchester, Va. Additionally, he was active in lumber and insurance companies Other business activities included directorships of Schering Corporation, the United States Fund, N.V., the South Puerto Rico Sugar Company, and the Pittsburgh and West Virginia Coal Company.

In 1956, Ambassador Farland was named Consultant and then Deputy Director of the United States Mutual Security Program, Department of State. In 1957, President Eisenhower appointed him Ambassador to the Dominican Republic. In 1960, he was designated Ambassador to the Republic of Panama and in January 1961, his designation was reaffirmed by President Kennedy. In addition to this ambassadorial assignment, President Kennedy appointed Ambassador Farland as his Special Commissioner for Interim Discussions concerning United States - Panama relations arising from the United States - Panama Treaty of 1903. On the same day that the public became aware that there existed a deep schism between the Embassy and the Latin American section of the State Department on a major policy position affecting U.S. - Panama relations, he was offered Foreign Service tenure. This he declined and vacated the post in 1963. Subsequent events vindicated the Embassy position. Upon his return from Panama, Ambassador Farland became of counsel with the Law Firm of Surrey and Morse, Washington, DC. Intermittently, during 1964-65, he acted as consultant to The Reader’s Digest in Latin American Affairs, traveling extensively throughout Central and South America He returned to government service as the U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan from 1969-72, during which he orchestrated a charade which secretly put Dr. Kissinger into China for the purpose of establishing U.S. - China relations. Thereafter, he served as U.S. Ambassador to Iran 1972-73. Ambassador Farland was then appointed as Ambassador designate to New Zealand, but declined this posting to return to private law practice.

The problems of economic development in Central and South America and Southeast Asia, together with related legal, social and political issues, were the subject of extensive lectures made by Ambassador Farland at numerous colleges and universities, Princeton being among them. In addition, he chaired a variety of conferences dealing with foreign investments sponsored by American business institutions.

Ambassador Farland was a member of both the Research Council and the Executive Committee of the Center of Strategic and International Studies, Georgetown University; a member of the Board of Regents of Georgetown University; a Director of West Virginia University Foundation, and a Trustee of the Shenandoah University; Chairman of the Board of People-to-People, Kansas City, Missouri; a Director of the People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc, (Project HOPE); and engaged in preparing a curriculum for Advanced Studies in Diplomacy at Harvard University’s John Fitzgerald Kennedy School of Government. He was a Director of the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, Georgetown University, a Founding member of the Council of American Ambassadors, and a member of the Washington Institute of Foreign Affairs, Washington, DC In 2002, West Virginia University inducted him into its Academy of Distinguished Alumni.

Ambassador Farland was a member of the West Virginia, District of Columbia and Virginia Bars, the American Bar Association, and the American Society of International Law. He was a communicant of the Protestant Episcopal Church, a lay reader, and during that time he was a former President of the Episcopal Churchman of West Virginia. Also, he was the recipient of the Bishop’s Distinguished Service Cross, Protestant Episcopalian Church, West Virginia 1964. He was a successful Chairman of the Fund Raising Committee for the National Cathedral in Washington, DC during the 60’s. He was a member of the Knights of Malta (KCG), and a member of the Sons of the American Revolution. He received high decorations from the Government’s of the Dominican Republic (the Order of Duarte, Sanchez y Mella), and Panama (the Order of Vascos Nunez de Balboa).

Ambassador Farland was married to the former Virginia M. Christopher, who died in 1978. They had four children: two daughters, Brooke Randolph Farland (Mrs. Clive Oatley) of St. Simons Island, Georgia and Page Farland Craw of Natchez Mississippi; and two sons, Richard Ashville Farland of Berryville, Virginia, and Christopher Simpson Farland of Wilmington, North Carolina; eleven grandchildren and three great- grandchildren. His social associations included: the Everglades Club, Palm Beach, Florida, the Rolling Rock Country Club, Ligonier, Pennsylvania; the Chevy Chase Club, Chevy Chase, Maryland; the International Club, Washington, DC; the Lakeview Country Club, Morgantown, West Virginia; the Pittsburgh Athletic Association, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; the University Club, New York New York; the Metropolitan Club, New York. New York; the Union Club, Panama, Republic of Panama; and the Sind Club, Karachi, Pakistan.

A memorial service will be held at Christ Church, Millwood Virginia at 12:00 noon on Thursday, February 1, 2007. The family has asked that in lieu of flowers contributions can be made to Cunningham Chapel Parrish, PO Box 153, Millwood, Virginia 22646 or the Shenandoah Valley Westminster-Canterbury Fellowship Fund at 300 Westminster- Canterbury Drive, Winchester, Virginia 22603. Arrangements are being made by Omps Funeral Home, Winchester, Virginia.

For further information contact:
Richard A. Farland
Farland Capital, Inc.
P.O. Box 619
Winchester, Virginia 22604
540-955-1532