RALPH OSER

OSER Ralph Crandall Oser (Age 75) Beloved husband, father, grandfather (aka Keepa Keepa), uncle, neighbor, and friend, died January 26, 2022 at Virginia Hospital Center, from complications related to cancer. Ralph was a resident of Arlington, Virginia for more than 50 years. He was born and raised in Evanston, Illinois, the second of three sons of Virginia Rose and Nelson Abraham Oser. He is predeceased by his brothers Mark Raclin of Chicago, Illinois, and David Oser of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 2013, he retired from his position at the US Department of Energy, where he negotiated contracts to purchase power for the National Laboratories across the country. Prior to that, he worked for 12 years in Office of the General Counsel at the US Agency for International Development (USAID). He was especially proud of his selection to help draft and later sign the U.S. claims against Iran in the International Court of Justice in the Hague in 1980, despite it resulting in his being persona non grata in Tehran. Ralph treasured decades of friendship with his classmates from Culver Academies (1964), Trinity College (1968), Vanderbilt University (JD, 1974) and the George Washington University (MBA). From 1968-1971 he served in the US Army as an Artillery Officer. He went to Vietnam first as a Battery Commander and then as a Civil Affairs Officer in Da Nang. Those who knew him will understand how the war distressed him, but he was proud of his service to this country and was gratified to witness the gradual change in societal response to our servicemen and -women. Starting early in his life as an Eagle Scout, Ralph was always deeply engaged in his community. He led the Yorktown High School Crew Boosters for more than four years, then managed the Annandale Tornadoes Soccer Team. He started his neighborhood list serv and made it his job to welcome new neighbors and chat with everyone passing by. A lifelong learner, Ralph delighted in international travel, mostly for the opportunities it presented for him to befriend a whole new country of strangers in his fluent Spanish, passable French, and enthusiastic Swahili. In the last years of his life he began to study Russian to facilitate his research into his family's genealogy. He also relished the family's annual trip to the deep north woods of the Adirondack State Park in New York, and the joy of both the solitude and camaraderie of early morning rows on the river with the Potomac Boat Club. Survivors include his wife of more than 52 years, Katherine Ball Oser, their children Rebecca and Nathaniel Oser, and their grandchildren Elijah Oser and Beatrix and Julian Brown. A memorial service will be held in the spring. In lieu of flowers, his family requests donations be made in his name to Trinity College Class of 1968 Endowed Scholarship Fund at Trinity College Hartford, Connecticut.In lieu of flowers, his family requests donations be made in his name to Trinity College Class of 1968 Endowed Scholarship Fund at Trinity College Hartford, Connecticut.