Stephen Eugene Palmer Jr. ’45

Steve Palmer died May 3, 2000, after a heart attack at his Virginia home. Steve entered Princeton from Lockport H.S. in New York and joined Cloister Inn. He received a degree from the School of Public & International Affairs in 1944, then served as a Marine Corps officer in Hawaii. Steve married the former Nancy Swan in 1947, then received a master's degree in international affairs from Columbia in 1948. He joined the Foreign Service in 1951. Steve was posted to duties in Yugoslavia, Pakistan, and Israel, receiving the State Department's Superior Service Award. He was then posted to London under fellow Princetonian, Ambassador Bruce. Subsequently, Steve was a fellow at the Center for Intl. Affairs, Harvard U. During the 1980s he served in the State Department's Bureau of Humanitarian Affairs and was for a time acting assistant Secretary of State. On retirement in 1988, Steve was awarded the Rogers Award for career achievement.

Steve then served on a State Department editorial team reviewing reports on human rights practices throughout the world. Steve was devoted to work in the field of human rights.

Steve is survived by his widow, the former Pat Simmons Lee, whom he married in 1989, and by his daughters, Katherine and Susan, to whom the class expresses its sympathy.

The Class of 1945