Cresencio “Cris” Arcos, a USIA Foreign Service officer who held numerous high-ranking diplomatic assignments at home and abroad, died June 7, 2025, at age 81. The cause of death was Parkinson’s disease. His overseas assignments included Belgium, Portugal, Brazil, and the Soviet Union. Arcos also spent five years as PAO in Honduras, later returning to the country to serve as Ambassador from 1989 to 1993. Among the other senior positions he held were Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs; Senior Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement; White House Coordinator for Public Diplomacy on Central America; and Assistant Secretary for International Affairs at the Department of Homeland Security.    
 
Bob Beecham, a retired USIA Foreign Service officer, died at home of natural causes April 17, 2025, at age 102. A South Dakota native, he moved to Washington DC in 1943 to work for the FBI. Beecham subsequently joined the U.S. Army and fought during World War II as a machine gunner in Italy and Germany. After earning a degree in world history from the University of Kansas and returning to Washington for a year of art school at the Corcoran, he joined USIA the year it was established in 1953. During his career Beecham served six years apiece in Japan and Thailand. In 1974 he became director of the Agency’s Press and Publications Service, a position he held until retiring in 1979. In retirement Beecham wrote and published The Chronicle of International Communication newsletter for five years.
 
Richard Boucher, a career ambassador who served as the State Department spokesman for six Secretaries of State in the 1990s and 2000s, died June 27, 2025, at his northern Virginia home at age 73. The cause of death was spindle-cell sarcoma. Beginning in the George H.W. Bush presidency and continuing through Bill Clinton’s and George W. Bush’s terms in office, in between other assignments Boucher was Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs and official spokesman for James Baker, Lawrence Eagleburger, Warren Christopher, Madeleine Albright, Colin Powell, and Condoleezza Rice. During his career he also served as U.S. Consul General in Hong Kong during the 1997 handover of the territory from Britain to China, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, and Ambassador to Cyprus. In retirement Boucher held the position of Deputy Secretary General of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development for four years. A remembrance by Judith Baroody is available here.
 
William Lawrence, a USIA Foreign Service officer, died at home June 19, 2025. He was 85. Following service with the Navy in San Diego and Okinawa, and then earning a B.A. from the University of Maryland, Lawrence joined USIA. Over the course of his quarter-century long career with the Agency he served in seven overseas posts, including Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Belgium, India, and Ghana, where he opened the branch post in Kumasi.  
 
Michael Messinger, whose federal government service included work at USIA’s television service, died May 14, 2025, at age 77. The cause of death was Parkinson’s disease and Parkinson’s-related dementia. In the late 1970s Messinger worked at the Agency’s Motion Pictures and Television Service, and subsequently at its successor of Worldnet. In his four decade career Messinger also worked on special assignment to the National Partnership for Reinventing Government, was involved in the launch and adoption of FirstGov.gov while at the General Services Administration, and worked on performance management while part of the White House Office of Management and Budget.
 
Evangeline Montgomery, an accomplished artist in her own right who handled overseas fine arts exhibits for USIA, died May 1, 2025, at age 94. A New York City native who moved to Los Angeles in 1955, she earned a BFA from the California College of Arts and Crafts. Montgomery was a pioneering curator who organized more than 150 exhibitions for museums, universities, and art centers. She later worked for the American Association for State and Local History as well as the Association of African American Museums. Moving to Washington DC in 1980, Montgomery directed community affairs at WHMM-TV before joining the U.S. Information Agency in 1983 and working in its Arts American program. As a practicing artist, her talents included printmaking, metals, fiber, and photography. Her art is held in private and museum collections, including the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.              
 
Vivian Stahl, who served 33 years as a reference specialist and librarian at USIA and the State Department, died May 16, 2025. She was 69. Stahl earned a B.A. in international relations from American University in 1977 and an MLS in Library Science from the University of Maryland in 1981. During her many years working at USIA’s “I” Bureau and its successor, State’s Bureau of International Information Programs (IIP), Stahl specialized in foreign policy and international security affairs. In 2009 she moved to the Department of Veterans Affairs, again working as a reference librarian.
 
Susan Sutton, a State Department Foreign Service officer whose career often involved public diplomacy work, died March 20, 2025, in Austin, TX, at age 67. The cause of death was ovarian cancer. Sutton earned a B.A. in German Studies from Boston University in 1979 and an M.A. in German Literature from Tufts University in 1983. In her 35-year career in the Foreign Service that began in 1985, she worked in the United Kingdom, Romania, Moldova, Bulgaria, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam. Her domestic assignments included serving on the faculty of the National War College. After retiring and moving to Austin, Sutton was an active devotee of the local music scene and also became a certified voter registrar in Travis County.  
 
Herant “Hidig” Van Seropian, who worked at the Voice of American for more than 40 years, died June 21, 2025, at his home in Chevy Chase, MD, at the age of 99. The son of Armenian immigrants, he served in the U.S. Navy during World War II as commander of a landing craft tank (LCT) slated to take part in the planned invasion of Japan. Following the war Van Seropian graduated from Columbia University in 1947 with a B.A. in English. During his four decades-long career at VOA he worked as a news writer and editor, retiring in 1997. Van Seropian was a dedicated runner, avid traveler, and lover of art and poetry.  
 
James Whittemore, a USIA Foreign Service officer, died June 2, 2025, in Scarborough, ME, following a brief illness. He was 89. After graduating with a B.A. from Whitman College in Walla Walla, WA, and serving in the Army for two years, he joined USIA in 1963. Over the course of his career Whittemore’s overseas assignments included India, where he assisted with the worldwide post-lunar tour of the Apollo 11 astronauts, Bangladesh, Morocco, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Spain. In retirement he volunteered in the Washington DC area as a gardener at the National Cathedral, a citizen forester with Casey Trees, a staff aide at the National Archives, and an election poll worker.