Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, January/February 2004, page 43

In Memoriam

 

Clifford J. Quinlan (1922-2003)

Clifford J. Quinlan (photo credit courtesy Louise Quinlan).

 

By Andrew I. Killgore

RETIRED U.S. foreign service officer Clifford J. (Patrick) Quinlan of Edina, Minnesota, died on Oct. 27. He was 81 years of age.

Pat Quinlan served as Middle East adviser to the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, as political officer at the American Embassy in Cairo, and as the American consul in Salzburg, Austria. In the 1950s he worked as the Berlin desk officer at the Department of State in Washington, DC. Other diplomatic assignments took him to Yemen, Libya and Oman, where he was principal officer, a position in which he also served at four other posts.

Born in Canby, Minnesota, he was a graduate of the University of Minnesota, the Georgetown School of Foreign Service and the Arabic-Language and Area Studies at the Foreign Services Institute branch in Beirut, Lebanon, and was Diplomat-in-Residence at Oakland University in Michigan. Fluent in German, Quinlan described his Arabic as “functional.”

When he retired from the foreign service, Pat Quinlan returned to Minnesota, where he was as busy as he had been while on active duty for Uncle Sam. He taught Elderhostel and University of Minnesota Extension courses, and was a regular commentator on radio and TV programs. An active member of several Twin Cities international affairs organizations, he wrote innumerable letters and commentaries on the Palestinian issue, the attack on the USS Liberty, understanding Islam and numerous human rights issues to newspapers and to this magazine.

Pat Quinlan was a founding member of Middle East Peace Now of Minnesota, established in 1976 “because of the need to discuss and understand the issues underlying conflicts in the Middle East.” As the group’s secretary until about a year ago, whenever he saw a letter that agreed with his views he wrote to the writer inviting him or her to join Middle East Peace Now.

Everyone who met Pat Quinlan became his friend. He had his own views, but in disagreements he was invariably polite and diplomatic—master of the principle “A soft answer turneth away wrath.” We at the Washington Report felt very close to Pat, whose death leaves a void that can never quite be filled.

Pat Quinlan is survived by his wife, Louise, to whom we extend our deepest condolences.

Andrew I. Killgore is publisher of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.

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