Frederick Quinn

1935 - 2022

Frederick Quinn

1935 ~ 2022

Frederick Quinn, age 87, diplomat, author and Episcopal priest died November 27, 2022, in Arlington Heights, IL.

Born in Oil City, PA on September 16, 1935, he graduated from Allegheny College, Meadville, PA, in 1957 and later received masters' degrees in African Studies and history and a doctorate in history from the University of California at Los Angeles.

From 1958 to 1990 he was a commissioned Foreign Service Officer, with overseas assignments in Rabat, Morocco, Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, Saigon, Vietnam, Yaoundé, Cameroon, and Prague, the Czech Republic, where he first reported on the Charter 77 protest movement to the State Department. Domestic assignments included Deputy Assistant Secretary of Transportation, 1981-1982, head of public affairs and congressional relations for the Voice of America, and international coordinator for the Bicentennial of the US Constitution, where he worked closely with Chief Justice Warren E. Burger. After retiring as a minister counselor of the senior foreign service in 1990, he served as head of the rule of law programs for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's Warsaw-based Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights from 1993 to 1995. During that time, he worked with 16 countries of central and eastern Europe then writing new constitutions and modernizing their judicial systems.

The author of over 100 articles in the scholarly and popular press, his books include The Federalist Papers' Reader, To Heal the Earth, Democracy at Dawn, Notes from Poland and Points East, a London Times Literary Supplement international book of the year in 1998, Human Rights and You, The French Overseas Empire, and To be a Pilgrim, an Anglican Ethos in History.

Ordained an Episcopal priest in 1975, he served as Anglican chaplain in Prague and Warsaw, and as a chaplain at Washington Cathedral. He also served as interim rector or supply clergy in over 40 parishes of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington and was a founding member of the Episcopal Churches' Environmental Stewardship Team.

A member of the Cosmos Club, he chaired its Reciprocity Committee, 1991-1992, and was a member of its program and admissions committees.

Frederick is preceded in death by his former wives, Charlotte Smith Quinn and Carolyn Tanner Irish. He is survived by his two children, Chris (Kristin) Quinn and Alison (James) Vanderpoel; his grandchildren, Charlotte Quinn, Graham Quinn and Frederick Vanderpoel; his stepchildren, Stephen Irish, Jessica Irish (Stephen) Metts, Thomas (Grace) Irish and Emily Irish (Michael) Kohler; and his step-grandchildren, Benjamin Irish, Elizabeth Irish, Vivian Metts, John Kohler and Anna Kohler.

A memorial service to be planned at a later date in Washington, DC.

Memorial contributions may be made out to the Washington National Cathedral, Music Department, Washington, DC. https://cathedral.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/donationform20160504-rev-11.19.pdf