Richard Moon

Richard B. Moon

Chapel Hill

Richard Bartlett Moon, former publisher of the internet journal American Diplomacy and a retired senior diplomat in the American Foreign Service, died at UNC Hospitals Hillsborough on May 2, 2019.

Descendant of an undocumented immigrant who accompanied William Penn to America in 1682, Bart Moon was born November 16, 1930, in Missouri. A graduate of the University of Missouri, he served as an officer in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War.

After the war he pursued graduate studies at the University of California at Berkeley, Columbia University in New York, and the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island . Early in his diplomatic career he was designated to represent the United States in the United Nation's Intern Program. Later, he was selected to participate in the Department of State's prestigious Executive Seminar in National and International Affairs.

Postings during a 35-year Foreign Service career included Paris, Antananarivo, Quito, Maracaibo, San Jose, Caracas, and Panama and, in addition, temporary assignments in 52 other countries. In Washington, Mr. Moon served as Alternate U.S. Delegate to the Organization of American States, Director of the State Department's Office of Performance Evaluation, and Senior Foreign Service Inspector. He received the Department's Meritorious Honor Award for his work in developing the Foreign Service Act of 1980.

In Caracas, where he served in the early 1980s as Deputy Chief of Mission and Chargé d'Affaires, President Jaime Lusinchi awarded Mr. Moon Venezuela's Orden de Francisco de Miranda for his contributions to American-Venezuelan relations. In Panama, the U.S. Department of the Army awarded him its Distinguished Civilian Service Medal for his work as Political Advisor to the Commander in Chief of the U.S. Southern Command.

Mr. Moon retired from the State Department in 1992 with the rank of Minister Counselor. He settled in Chatham County, North Carolina, where he involved himself in public service activities as President of Liaison Hispanico, a non-profit organization providing free interpreter and translation services to the Spanish-speaking population of Chatham County, and subsequently as Publisher of American Diplomacy, an online journal of analysis and commentary on international issues. He was a member of the American Foreign Service Association; the organization of Diplomatic and Consular Officers, Retired (DACOR); and the Triangle Institute for Security Studies. His published memoirs include Auyantepui, Avenue Gabriel. and Great Uncle Fulano.

Mr. Moon is survived by Calista, his wife of 60 years; his children, Claudia Moon of Wilmington, North Carolina, and Keith Moon of Lakeville, Connecticut; and two grandchildren, Peter and Stephen Moon.