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I. William Zartman

01/09/1932 - 07/28/2025

I. William Zartman obituary, 01/09/1932-07/28/2025, Silver Spring, MD

I. Zartman Obituary

I. William Zartman, the author, teacher and international relations specialist who coined the concepts of Ripeness Theory and Mutually Hurting Stalemate, passed away on July 28, 2025 at the age of 93 at Adventist Medical Center in Silver Spring, MD. He was surrounded by his wife of 65 years, Marie-Daniele Zartman and his son, Alex.

Dr. William (Bill) Zartman was born in 1932 in Allentown PA. Dr. Zartman is the descendant of a long line of German settlers who established roots in Lancaster County Pennsylvania in the early 1700s looking for better opportunities. The Zartmans helped establish a Lutheran church in Brickerville PA that is still in use today, and hosts the Annual Zartman Family Reunion since the early 1900s.

Bill Zartman graduated from Johns Hopkins in political science with an MA, skipping the BA altogether. He then joined Yale for his doctorate. At 24, PhD in hand, he was preparing to start as a junior instructor at Yale when he was called to military service. He enlisted in the Navy and entered the Officer Candidate School. In 1958, he was offered a post in Port Lyautey, Morocco, two years after Moroccan independence. While in Morocco, Bill Zartman met and fell in love with a young French woman, Marie-Daniele Harmel. They married in 1960 in Kenitra, Morocco followed by a religious wedding in Caen, a prominent town in Normandy, France where Marie-Daniele had roots.

At the end of his military service, the Zartmans returned to the United States and settled in Columbia, SC, as Dr. Zartman had been invited to join the faculty at the University of South Carolina to teach International Relations, and also to teach courses on Africa and the Middle East. Within a couple of years, and after having published several books, the Zartmans headed back to Africa to conduct research for a book on International Relations in the New Africa (1966), followed by a book titled The Weak Confront the Strong: The Politics of Trade Negotiations between Africa and The European Union Community (1971) which propelled Dr. Zartman into the negotiation analysis field and in bridging the gap with Area studies.

Upon their return to USC, Dr. Zartman was invited to teach at NYU and was offered a tenured professorship there. While at NYU, Dr. Zartman had the opportunity to become founding executive secretary of the newly formed Middle East Studies Association, of which he eventually became its president. Soon thereafter, the American Overseas Research Center in (AORC) in North Africa was established, and backed by a consortium of US universities and run by academics working the area. Dr. Zartman was asked to chair the committee founding the American Institute of Maghreb Studies (AIMS), the first AORC to cover a region and not a state. Bill Zartman presided over AIMS for 12 years. The Center opened eventually in Tunis (CEMAT). AIMS brought US and Maghribi scholars together. In 1976, Bill Zartman was also invited to join the Board of Directors to the old American Legation in Tangier given to the US in 1821. Eventually, Dr. Zartman presided over TALMS and its new namesake, TALIM for 27 years. In time, the Legation became the Moroccan center of AIMS. At the same time, Bill Zartman's academic career progressed and he became the All-University Chairman of the Politics Department at NYU. The Zartmans also welcomed the birth of their son Alexander in 1974.

In the early 1980s, Bill Zartman was offered a position as the new director for the African Studies Program in the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) of Johns Hopkins University in Washington. SAIS was the perfect place to organize conferences and edit the results into books, create a program and eventually set up other programs for the school.

With his research on negotiation from his NYU days, he created a new concentration/major at SAIS in Conflict Management and became the Jacob Blaustein Distinguished Professor of International Organization and Conflict Resolution, and with a grant from the Blaustein Foundation, launched a new Journal, International Negotiations (jIN), the only regular peer-reviewed academic journal published at SAIS.

He launched one of the first experiential learning programs, the annual Conflict Management Research trip, where he led a group of students to areas of (moderate) conflict, so they could engage directly with the various parties and produce a report and provide policy recommendations. The field trips were a distinguishing trademark that set SAIS Conflict Management apart from other programs at competitor schools.

Dr. Zartman was equally proud of a smaller program he pioneered called PeaceKidZ. Small groups of students partnered with middle schools in Washington, DC, where they taught for 9 weeks the main concepts of conflict resolution following the 3Rs, Recognize, Respect, Resolve.

Outside of his work on Africa Dr. Zartman worked closely with academics across Europe on conflict transformation following the détente between the US and USSR. In the 1980s, he was one of the founding members of The PIN (Processes of International Negotiation) Group, born with a goal to promote the study of negotiation outside the US. Through PIN, Bill Zartman edited and published countless books. His latest book on Rethinking Conflict Resolution and Management, published in 2023, remains a testament of his innovative spirit and unwavering brilliance.

He was widely recognized scholar whose work has been supported by numerous prestigious grants from institutions such as the Rockefeller Foundation, the National Science Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Dr. Zartman has provided extensive service and leadership to the academic community, notably as a founding figure in several key organizations. He was the founding Executive Secretary-Treasurer and later President of the Middle East Studies Association, the founding President of the American Institute for Maghrib Studies, and the founding secretary-treasurer of the West African Research Association. His leadership also includes a 25-year presidency of the Tangier American Legation Museum Society and serving as vice-president of the Council of American Overseas Research Centers. His expertise has also shaped the field of practical peacemaking; as a member of the International Peace Academy (Institute), he helped create its peacemaking focus, and he initiated negotiation courses at the State Department's Foreign Service Institute (FSI), where he also served on the negotiation project's steering committee. Dr. Zartman was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and has held senior advisory roles for the Fulbright Council and the Social Science Research Council.

Beyond academia, and bridging academics and researchers in African studies and around conflict resolution and negotiation, Bill Zartman also wrote a peace plan for Colombia leading to the disarmament of the FARC rebels in exchange for participation in normal electoral life, and collaborated on a report for the African heads of the Great Lakes region on the possibilities of peace in Congo and joined a mediation in the dispute among the 3 presidential claimants in Congo, Brazzaville.

Bill Zartman was the recipient of many awards including awards from the University of South Carolina and, on two occasions, from Johns Hopkins SAIS. but he was most proud of his Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Association for Conflict Management (IACM) and a Doctorate Honoris Causa from the Catholic University of Louvain as well as a Doctorate Honoris Causa from Upsala University. In addition, the King of Morocco made him a Commander of the Moroccan Alawite Order (Ouissam Alawi).

When not teaching or writing books, he enjoyed spending time restoring an old Mill in Opequon, VA, harvesting oysters at their home in Lewes, DE, painting and listening to music and participating in his church choir for over 40 years. He is survived by his wife of 65 years, Marie-Daniele, his son Alex, his daughter-in-law Susan and grandchildren Matthew and Grace.

Service:
Saturday, Aug 2, 2025
9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., followed by a reception
St. Stephen Lutheran Church
11612 New Hampshire Avenue
Silver Spring, MD 20904
The burial will take place at the Brickerville United Lutheran Church, PA later on August 2.

Flowers can be sent to St Stephen Lutheran Church, or donations in memory of I William Zartman can be made to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.

Published by The Washington Post on Aug. 1, 2025.

Memories and Condolences
for I. Zartman

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Bill Ott

October 13, 2025

Bill and I shared a first name as elected members of the Montgomery County Republican Central Committee. He was a man of strong principles and unafraid to speak the truth. I didn't know his background until now, but it is easy to see why he was so effecftive in his career and life. God bless Bill and his family.

Chris Honeyman

September 14, 2025

Bill was an extraordinary thinker and collaborator, right to the end; I didn't even meet him till he was past "normal" retirement age, and yet for another 20 years he contributed to a succession of projects I was involved with. It was a privilege to work with him.

Melverlynn Hull

September 6, 2025

We were neighbors to the Zartman family for 47 years. Incredibly sorry to learn of Dr Zartman 's passing.

Eco-Friendly Memorial Trees

Cindy Arnson

Planted Trees

Amine Ghoulidi

August 13, 2025

Professor Zartman was an extraordinary mentor whose generosity of spirit touched countless lives. From our first meeting in his office at SAIS in 2007, he embodied everything one hopes to find in a mentor: generous with his time, thoughtful in his advice, and genuinely invested in the growth of anyone who sought his counsel.

Over the years, whether during countless conversations in his Hopkins office or over coffee at international conferences, he demonstrated a remarkable combination of intellectual rigor and personal warmth. He was that increasingly rare figure in academia: someone who was not only brilliant but also faithful, consistent, reliable, and truly accessible to anyone seeking guidance.

His legacy lives on in the minds he shaped and the lives he touched. The African studies and negotiations community has lost a giant, but those of us privileged to know him carry forward his spirit of relentless intellectual curiosity and passion for ideas.

My deepest condolences to his family and to all who were fortunate enough to learn from this truly remarkable man.

He will be missed.

Ariel Chiang

August 5, 2025

Professor Zartman, thank you for your teaching. Your contribution to the fields of peace making and conflict management will not be forgotten.

Grove of 100 Memorial Trees

natasha Kapil

Planted Trees

Azzedine Layachi

August 2, 2025

This is indeed a sad loss of a great man, a wonderful person, a teacher, a mentor, and a peacemaker. I had him as a teacher in my first semester in a US university (NYU). His negotiations and diplomacy course (what else?!), though thick with theory and technicalities, was one of the best course I ever took. Bill served also as my dissertation mentor. The research inspiration came during a Christmas morning meeting at his house in the mid-1980s; the topic included negotiations, of course! Very generous with his time, Bill was an effective and inspiring mentor. Just like with many of his former students, he later became a great colleague, a friend, an inspiration. He will be dearly missed but will always be present in many hearts and minds due to the tremendous impact he had on people, and to the large number of works he left us on many topics, especially those on how to understand and help resolve disputes. Just like Hans Morgenthau's realism, Bill's approach seems guided by his view of human nature which he saw as a fundamental factor in deciding to negotiate or not and in how people actually negotiate. Bill's work on the Maghreb was also an important contribution. His 1982 edited book "Political Elites in Arab North Africa" remains a valid reference today on the dynamics of power in the Maghrib.

Daniele and Alex, please accept my most profound condolences. May God give you the strength needed to deal with this loss.

Heavenly Blossoms Bouquet VASE INCLUDED

Sinisa and Andrijana Vukovic

Sent Sympathy Gifts including Flowers

Usmaan Ahmad

August 2, 2025

In Memory of I. William (Bill) Zartman (1932-2025)

[THE POSSIBLE -> ]

by Usmaan Ahmad

Certain theories not only help us become more effective negotiators, they guard against hubris, no matter how well-intentioned our objectives, teaching us to work with reality rather than against it. They reveal that progress depends not on force of will but on the art of timing and strategy - recognizing when openings for peace exist and what's attainable in a given moment and how to expand what's possible over time.

Professor Bill Zartman provided exactly that. He taught us that conflicts have their own timing-moments when the pain of continuing finally exceeds the fear of negotiating. His Ripeness Theory revealed that even the most intractable conflicts have windows of possibility, requiring both the 'push' of a Mutually Hurting Stalemate and the 'pull' of a perceived Way Out-conditions that could transform into Mutually Enticing Opportunities. [I have shared some links to some of his writings in the comments]

Professor Zartman wasn't just a theorist observing from academia. He bridged the worlds of rigorous scholarship and practical peacemaking, from drafting peace plans for Colombia to advising on Congo, from SAIS classrooms to the highest levels of international diplomacy. He showed us that practical paths to peace could be developed and barriers to negotiation could be diagnosed through rigorous analysis.

I had the profound privilege of working directly with Professor Zartman as the youngest member of an expert negotiation team convened by President Carter at the Carter Center. In applying his framework to an escalating conflict situation with nuclear dimensions, our team grappled with what Bill identified as a situation with some elements of a "4-S stalemate" - stable, soft, self-serving, and sadly sustainable - where parties found the status quo more bearable than the risks of negotiation. Our work focused on identifying what 'pull factors' might transform such entrenched positions into opportunities for de-escalation, confidence-building and dialogue.

Despite being the architect of the theory we were applying, Bill approached our analysis with a beginner's mind - genuinely curious about this conflict's unique dynamics, listening and learning alongside us. He never rigidly imposed his concepts but offered them as tools to stress-test what was possible before designing interventions. In those intense deliberations, I witnessed him transform theoretical frameworks into practical pathways with intellectual precision and deep humanity.

Over the years, I have found Ripeness Theory to be an invaluable diagnostic tool for understanding conflict and developing effective strategies for peace. When situations are most stuck and charting a path to peace seems impossible, that's precisely where leadership matters most-from every angle and on all sides of a conflict. In these moments, available solutions fall short and leaders must help parties navigate the deeper work of examining what they're truly protecting and what they might need to let go of to move forward.

Professor Zartman played a fundamental role in advancing the study, teaching, and practice of negotiation - including his work to expand negotiation teaching beyond the US.

His work is now a foundational part of syllabi wherever international negotiation is taught. The influence of his ideas have rippled through generations of scholars and practitioners. His Ripeness Theory has been further advanced and adapted by Richard Haass, Dean Pruitt, Stephen Stedman, Jannie Lilja, Daniel Druckman, Marieke Kleiboer, and many others - spawning an entire sub-field of scholarship and real-world application across negotiation timing, readiness, internal dynamics, turning points and leadership.

His ideas endure in ongoing efforts to negotiate ends to violent conflict and achieve sustainable peace. Every negotiator who assesses whether a conflict is "ripe," every diplomat who looks for a "mutually hurting stalemate," every peacemaker who helps parties explore a "way out" - we are all his students. Zartman's insights remain vital in this work.

Remarkably, the impact of his work continues to evolve. Shawn Guttman's peacetech startup, https://www.didi4peace.ai, is now building AI tools that apply Ripeness Theory through a Ripeness Index - using AI technology to identify windows of opportunity for negotiation in real-time.

RIP Professor Zartman. With deep respect and admiration for a life of profound impact, in search of peace.

Dr Samba Ka

August 1, 2025

Toutes mes condoléances à la famille de Bill
I a joué un rôle capital dans ma formation intellectuelle en accueillant à bras ouverts ce francophone venu du Sénégal dans un programme de doctorat. Il a pris ce risque
En le faisant il a fait de moi son premier africain francophone docteur en relations internationales : une dette que nous avons essayé d´honorer depuis notre retour au pays
J´ai une vivide mémoire des déjeuners organisés chez lui avec Daniele et Alex (tout petit ) dans les années 85/90
Dr Samba Ka

Mounira Maya Charrad

August 1, 2025

We lost a giant in the study of the Maghreb. He inspired so many of us. Heartfelt condolences to his family.

Eve Cushman Zartman

August 1, 2025

Cousin Bill lived an amazing life by any measure, but I know his greatest love was his immediate family as well as his love for all our Zartman line.

Heartfelt Condolences Arrangement- BASKET INCLUDED

Ibrahim Gambari

Sent Flowers

Rustic Wildflower - A Florist Original

Tova, Hassi, Ella, Noah, Gunnar and Anne Sophie

Sent Sympathy Gifts including Flowers

Anthony Wanis-St.John

August 1, 2025

Fair winds and following seas, old sailor. It was wonderful to be inspired by you, and to--on occasion--stand on your great shoulders. Your laughter and collegiality have been a model for us all.

John Entelis

August 1, 2025

Mentor, friend, colleague, lifelong fellow scholar of North Africa--a man of multiple distinctions and accomplishments. He will be sorely missed, never to be replaced. My heartfelt condolences to Daniele and family.

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Memorial Events
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Aug

2

Service

9:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.

St. Stephen Lutheran Church

11612 New Hampshire Avenue, Silver Spring, MD

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