Sol Linowitz, co-founder, with David Rockefeller, of the International Executive Service Corps, Dies



Sol Linowitz, co-founder, with David Rockefeller, of the International Executive Service Corps, Dies

Former Diplomat Sol Linowitz, 91, Dies

By Joe Holley
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, March 18, 2005; 5:34 PM

[Excerpt]

Sol Linowitz, 91, a businessman who became chairman of the board of a small Rochester-based company that grew to be Xerox, a diplomat who was co-negotiator of the Panama Canal treaties and a lawyer who in later years became a forceful advocate for legal ethics, died March 18 at his home in the District, his family said. The cause of death was pneumonia, after a long illness.

When President Jimmy Carter was elected in 1976, Mr. Linowitz chaired a committee on U.S.-Latin American relations that identified the conflict over the Panama Canal as the most serious problem confronting the United States in the area. Carter agreed with the panel's conclusions, and asked Mr. Linowitz and Ellsworth Bunker to negotiate a treaty that was "generous, fair and appropriate."

"In retrospect, I'd have to say that assignment was probably the most difficult and exciting challenge of my life," Mr. Linowitz once recalled. "It is also the accomplishment of which I am most proud."

He also served as the president's personal representative to the Middle East peace negotiations from 1979 to 1981.

Mr. Linowitz was the quintessential "public man." He not only served presidents as a diplomat but sat on countless boards and commissions, usually policy-oriented private organizations.

He was, for example, co-founder, with David Rockefeller, of the International Executive Service Corps, which sent mostly retired businessmen on six-month tours of duty to help local companies in developing nations. Mr. Linowitz described it as "a privately sponsored Peace Corps with a business slant."

He was founder and co-chairman of Inter-American Dialogue, as well as chairman of a 1978 presidential commission on world hunger. The commission produced a report the next year recommending "that the United States make the elimination of hunger the primary focus of its relationships with developing countries, beginning with the decade of the 1980s."

No action was taken.

"I met him when he was appointed by President Johnson as a trustee of Kennedy Center," Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis told Martin Mayer, who wrote a profile of his friend in an April 24, 1966, article for the New York Times Magazine. "So then you see him at all the meetings. One doesn't, obviously, pour out one's soul at meetings. What's so special about Sol Linowitz, in these days when everyone is so busy, is that he really does pour himself out. He's quickly brilliant -- and he gets on with people. He's kind."

Sol Myron Linowitz was the eldest of four sons born to Joseph and Rose Oglenskye Linowitz, immigrants from a region of Poland under Russian rule. He was born in Trenton, N.J., in a multicultural neighborhood of Jews, Protestants and Catholics, as well as one African American family. His father was a fruit importer.

"He built up a significant business, and provided the family with a comfortable standard of living," Mr. Linowitz recalled in a 1995 interview that appeared in Bar Report, a publication of the DC Bar. "I always assumed that after high school I'd go off to college. But my father's business came crashing down in the Depression."

Mr. Linowitz graduated from Trenton Central High School -- first in his class, his brother Robert Linowes recalled. (As adults, Mr. Linowitz's three brothers changed the spelling of the family name.) Despite the Depression, he was still able to go to college -- Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y. -- thanks to scholarships and part-time jobs waiting tables, selling newspapers, tutoring and other odd jobs. One of only two Jews in his Hamilton class, he sold Christmas cards to supplement his income.

In addition, he was a violinist, one accomplished enough to make solo appearances from age 11 and to play in the violin section of the Utica Symphony. He also fronted for an Atlantic City dance band during the summer.

He graduated in 1935 as the salutatorian of his class at Hamilton and delivered a commencement oration in Latin.

When this story was posted in March 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:

The Peace Corps Library Peace Corps Online is proud to announce that the Peace Corps Library is now available online. With over 30,000 index entries in over 500 categories, this is the largest collection of Peace Corps related reference material in the world. From Acting to Zucchini, you can use the Main Index to find hundreds of stories about RPCVs who have your same interests, who served in your Country of Service, or who serve in your state.

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RPCVs in Congress ask colleagues to support PC RPCVs Sam Farr, Chris Shays, Thomas Petri, James Walsh, and Mike Honda have asked their colleagues in Congress to add their names to a letter they have written to the House Foreign Operations Subcommittee, asking for full funding of $345 M for the Peace Corps in 2006. As a follow-on to Peace Corps week, please read the letter and call your Representative in Congress and ask him or her to add their name to the letter.

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Add your info now to the RPCV Directory Call Harris Publishing at 800-414-4608 right away to add your name or make changes to your listing in the newest edition of the NPCA's Directory of Peace Corps Volunteers and Former Staff. Then read our story on how you can get access to the book after it is published. The deadline for inclusion is May 16 so call now.

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March 12, 2005: This Week's Top Stories The Coyne Column: Read Winning Essay by PCV 12 Mar Laura Germino helps Migrant Workers Advocacy Group 12 Mar Sam Farr impresses medical-pot advocacy group 11 Mar Fred O'Regan writes Op-Ed on Canada seal hunt 11 Mar Fern Holland remembered In Oklahoma 10 Mar Mountaineer Charles Houston receives honorary degree 10 Mar Elaine Chao led delegation for President's inauguration 10 Mar Chris Dodd wins Hispanic Capital Award 9 Mar Pat Waak is new Colorado Democratic Party Chair 9 Mar Chris Matthews withdraws from Florida Event 9 Mar Timothy J. O'Brien returns to Korea 8 Mar Tomas Belsky's paintings inspired by service in Brazil 7 Mar Christopher Hill to be Assistant Secretary of State 7 Mar Allen Moore is Sen Frist's Deputy Chief of Staff 7 Mar Jim Doyle heads trade delegation to Mexico 5 Mar Al Kamen says Narcissus Is Now Greek AND Roman 4 Mar Diana Gomez says to do something about Peace 4 Mar

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March 12, 2005: RPCV Groups in the News San Diego RPCVs host reception with Gaddi Vasquez on March 6 4 Mar Alaska RPCVs speak for dividend 4 Mar Western North Carolina's RPCVs sponsor Africa Night on March 6 3 Mar Maryland RPCVs lobby their Senators for Peace Corps 3 Mar Connecticut RPCVs hold fundraiser on March 5 3 Mar Charles Baquet speaks at Louisiana PC Breakfast on March 4 28 Feb RPCVs: Post your stories or press releases here for inclusion next week.

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March 1: National Day of Action Tuesday, March 1, is the NPCA's National Day of Action. Please call your Senators and ask them to support the President's proposed $27 Million budget increase for the Peace Corps for FY2006 and ask them to oppose the elimination of Perkins loans that benefit Peace Corps volunteers from low-income backgrounds. Follow this link for step-by-step information on how to make your calls. Then take our poll and leave feedback on how the calls went.

Make a call for the Peace Corps PCOL is a strong supporter of the NPCA's National Day of Action and encourages every RPCV to spend ten minutes on Tuesday, March 1 making a call to your Representatives and ask them to support President Bush's budget proposal of $345 Million to expand the Peace Corps. Take our Poll: Click here to take our poll. We'll send out a reminder and have more details early next week.

Peace Corps Calendar: Tempest in a Teapot? Bulgarian writer Ognyan Georgiev has written a story which has made the front page of the newspaper "Telegraf" criticizing the photo selection for his country in the 2005 "Peace Corps Calendar" published by RPCVs of Madison, Wisconsin. RPCV Betsy Sergeant Snow, who submitted the photograph for the calendar, has published her reply. Read the stories and leave your comments.

WWII participants became RPCVs Read about two RPCVs who participated in World War II in very different ways long before there was a Peace Corps. Retired Rear Adm. Francis J. Thomas (RPCV Fiji), a decorated hero of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, died Friday, Jan. 21, 2005 at 100. Mary Smeltzer (RPCV Botswana), 89, followed her Japanese students into WWII internment camps. We honor both RPCVs for their service.

Bush's FY06 Budget for the Peace Corps The White House is proposing $345 Million for the Peace Corps for FY06 - a $27.7 Million (8.7%) increase that would allow at least two new posts and maintain the existing number of volunteers at approximately 7,700. Bush's 2002 proposal to double the Peace Corps to 14,000 volunteers appears to have been forgotten. The proposed budget still needs to be approved by Congress.

Read the stories and leave your comments.