Joseph Fergus McFarland ’42

Joe McFarland was enjoying retirement in Sun City, Fla., when he died unexpectedly from a stroke, Oct. 7, 1996.

Joe came to Princeton from St. Aloysius H.S. in Jersey City, N.J. He studied at the School for Public and Intl. Affairs and was a member of Cloister Inn. During WWII, he was a Navy lieutenant with the Seabees in the South Pacific. In 1945, while stationed in Tampa, he married, Dorene, who was a lieutenant in the Navy Nurse Corps.

Joe did graduate work at UCLA and joined the foreign service. He held consular, diplomatic, and foreign aid posts in Latin America and the Middle East. Posts included those of consul in the Netherlands Antilles and political officer of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq. When assigned to Washington, D.C., he was chief, Colombia Affairs, and later special assistant to the Inspector General.

Joe was a kind and gentle man, with a lifelong interest in international politics and history. He was a loyal alumnus with fond memories of Princeton. He is survived by his wife, Dorene, and his son, Joseph B. '74, to both of whom the class extends its most sincere sympathies.

The Class of 1942