H. Freeman Matthews Jr. ’49

Free, a retired Foreign Service officer, died at Sibley Hospital July 22, 2006, of renal failure. He was 78. He had been a resident of Chevy Chase, Md., for nearly 50 years.

Born in Bogota, Colombia, of Foreign Service parents, he spent his childhood years in Havana and Paris, where his father, the late H. Freeman Matthews, was assigned. He attended the Harvey School in New York and graduated in 1945 from the Lawrenceville School. His years at Princeton were interrupted by Army service in World War II and Korea. He was a member of Cloister Inn.

Free was an executive trainee at the Central Hanover Bank & Trust Co. in New York in 1950. He was appointed an officer in the U.S. Foreign Service in 1952, first serving as assistant British desk officer. In 1952 he went to his first post, Palermo, Sicily, where he was a vice consul and visa officer. He subsequently served in Zurich and Madrid. He was chief of the political section in Saigon from 1964 to 1966 and director of the Vietnam Working Group in the department from 1966 to 1970. He was political counselor at the American Embassy in Mexico City from 1970 to 1973 and then director of Egyptian Affairs from 1974 to 1976.

From 1976 to 1980 he served as deputy chief of mission in Cairo, where he played a role in the Middle East peace negotiations involving President Carter, President Sadat, and Prime Minister Begin. From 1980 to 1983 he was deputy director of management operations; he then served as senior inspector in the Office of the Inspector General until 1985, when he retired from the Foreign Service.

Free then became a consultant with the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security, where he was director of inter-agency teams, conducting crisis management exercises at American embassies abroad. From 1987 to 1991 he was the State Department representative to the White House Iran\Contra Legal Task Force and Inter-Agency Review Committee.

A passionate animal lover, Free was active in various organizations after his retirement, including the Wildlife Preservation Trust. He volunteered at the National Cathedral, and was for many years an active volunteer with Meals on Wheels.

He was a parishioner of St. John's Lafayette Square for many years and was a member of the Chevy Chase Club and the Metropolitan Club.

He is survived by his wife, Nancy Henneberger Matthews; four children, Luke Matthews of Houston, John Matthews of Lyon, France, Capt. Timothy Matthews of Jacksonville, Fla., and Elizabeth Johns of Woodville, Va; and 10 grandchildren. The class extends deepest sympathy to them on their loss of a fine man who lived the motto "in the nation's service."

Expanded version posted June 12, 2007