ROBERT STRAND

STRAND Robert Reilly Strand (1935-2019) Died June 20, 2019. Born June 25, 1935 in Lakewood, OH, to Dorothy and Edwin Strand. Edwin was an Ohio Bell attorney, and Dorothy, née Reilly, was an interior decorator and former dancer. In 1953, Bob graduated second in his class from University School in Shaker Heights, having served as managing editor of the school newspaper and earned his varsity letter in both soccer and track and field. In 1957, he graduated third in his class from Amherst College, where he earned a BA in American Studies, an honorable mention as an All-New England midfielder, and participated in glee club and chapel choir. He then attended Queens College, Cambridge, as a Marshall Scholar, where he earned a BA in Moral Sciences (Philosophy) in 1959. Several years later, he earned an MA from Queens College in the same subject. Having completed Army basic training, Bob turned down both Yale and Harvard Law in favor of joining the State Department Foreign Service in 1961. With the Cold War at its apex, he deemed the Foreign Service the most socially useful career he could pursue. The early part of his career was spent in Africa, including postings in Enugu, Eastern Nigeria, during the lead-up to the Biafran Civil War, and Zaire, where he reopened the US Consulate in Kisangani in the wake of the Simba Rebellion. Returning to the US, Bob settled with his family in Falls Church, VA. After a stint at the American Embassy in Moscow, Bob engaged the major focus of his Foreign Service career: arms control. Starting at State, Bob worked on the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks and the subsequent Strategic Arms Reduction Treaties. Then, on loan to the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, he worked on the Mixed and Balanced Force Reduction (MBFR) talks, first in Belgrade at a Committee for Security and Cooperation in Europe conference, and later at a UN special session on arms control. Finally, Bob was assigned for three years to the US mission to NATO, where he worked again on the MBFR, and on the first round of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. Though the following result is the sum of an international effort engaged by thousands, it bears noting, given Bob's early hope to serve the greater good as a Foreign Service Officer, that when the SALT talks began, the US and the Soviet Union had 30,000 nuclear weapons deployed. Today, that number is 1,400. Bob's last Foreign Service assignment was as Deputy, then Acting Director of the Politico-Military affairs office in the Department's Intelligence and Research division. He retired from the Foreign Service in 1986, but he continued to serve as a Reviewer, then Senior Reviewer, in the Freedom of Information office until 2016. In 1961, while serving at the US Embassy in Conakry, Guinea, Bob met Penelope Ann Packard. They married in Conakry in 1963. They were married 52 years. They shared a love of opera and a contempt for convention. Their favorite singer was Anna Netrebko, and they traveled all over the country to watch her perform. Penny, a classical singer and innovative photographer, died in 2015. Besides classical music, Bob loved theatre (he was a long-time season ticket holder at Arena Stage), architecture (he spent a summer touring European cathedrals with his family), the great outdoors (he took his family on many hiking trips to the Blue Ridge), and especially literature. He often complained there wasn't enough time to read all the books he was interested in. A few of his favorite authors were V.S. Naipaul, Saul Bellow, Montesqieu, Arundhati Roy, Jane Austen, Virginia Woolf, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Bob lived a life of service. He was Penny's sole caretaker during the last year of her life. He encouraged and financially supported his son Ashley's acting pursuits until the end. He delighted in taking his grandchildren, Henry, Kate, and Luke, to Bethesda's Imagination Stage. Bob is survived by his sons Stratton, a DOJ senior attorney, and Ashley, an actor and a teacher. A family memorial was held on July 20.Bob is survived by his sons Stratton, a DOJ senior attorney, and Ashley, an actor and a teacher. A family memorial was held on July 20.