Herbert L. Sultan, Served In State Department, 89
DGH
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/25/AR2008072503412.html
Herbert L. Sultan, 89; Served in State Department
Herbert L. Sultan, 89, a retired Foreign Service officer who worked
for the Allied High Commission in post-World War II Europe and in
Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War, died July 20 [2008] while
swimming in Lake Barcroft near his home in Falls Church [Virginia].
The death was determined to be an accidental drowning, according to
the Fairfax County [Virginia] police department.
Mr. Sultan was born in Brooklyn, New York, and received a degree in
government in 1940 from Cornell University, where he was elected to
Phi Beta Kappa. He entered Yale Law School before World War II but
interrupted his studies to join the Navy.
He trained as a translator and interpreter at the Navy Japanese
Language School, based at the University of Colorado in Boulder. As a
Navy officer, he served in the Pacific as an onboard interpreter and
interrogator of Japanese prisoners of war.
Afterward, Mr. Sultan returned to Yale and received his law degree in
1945. He became a lawyer for the Allied High Commission, initially in
Vienna, Austria, and then in Frankfurt and Bonn in Germany.
In 1962, he joined the State Department and was posted to Vientiane,
Laos, where he remained throughout the Vietnam War. He moved to Saigon
(now Ho Chi Minh City) in 1974 and remained until the city fell to the
North Vietnamese. He retired in 1981 after spending several years
assigned to the Ivory Coast.
In retirement, he and his wife lived in Germany and Falls Church. He
loved music, finance, exercise, tennis, film and conversation about
politics. He practiced tai chi and Iyengar yoga and swam in Lake
Barcroft daily.
Survivors include his wife of 53 years, Ursula Sultan of Falls Church;
four sons, Peter Sultan of Baltimore, Christopher Sultan of Roxbury,
New York, Eric Sultan of Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, and Timothy Sultan
of Brooklyn; and four grandchildren.
--
Joe Holley