Dan Anthony Zachary

Mr. Zachary was a native of Chicago and graduated from Northwestern University. He received an MA in European history from Harvard University and an MA from Stanford University. He also attended the Sorbonne University and was a graduate of the Air War College in Montgomery, Alabama.

At the start of World War 2, Mr. Zachary, then 18, worked at a Martin Marietta plant. He then enlisted in the US Navy serving on a destroyer escort, the USS Le Hardy, convoying troop and cargo vessels in the western Pacific, With the end of hostilities, his ship participated in the surrender ceremonies on Wake Island. (When Japan attacked Wake in 1941, American resistance became a rallying cry for an American public shocked by Pearl Harbor). After his ship was decommissioned, he served at the Naval Air Station at Pearl Harbor.

Mr. Zachary began his foreign service career in 1953 and was assigned to Munich as a consular officer. This was followed by postings in Copenhagen and Paris as an economic-commercial officer. He later had three assignments in African affairs - Ethiopia, Congo, and the State Department's Bureau of African Affairs.

The nexus of Mr. Zachary's career was in Greece. Following Greek language and area training at the State Department's Foreign Service Institute (1960-61), he had three assignments in economic, political, and commercial affairs in Athens and Thessaloniki. After the Greek military junta took over in 1967 and began using Greek intelligence services to harass Greek democratic leaders, Mr. Zachary created the primary link to bolster these leaders. In his last assignment, he served as Consul General in Thessaloniki from 1977 until 1981.

Following his retirement, Mr. Zachary was employed by the Board of Examiners for foreign service applicants, Greek affairs in the Bureau of Intelligence, and in special task forces including one formed during the Cyprus crisis. He also served as an escort for international visitors abroad under the Arts-America program. He last served in State's Freedom of Information Unit.

Mr. Zachary's years of retirement were full of adventure. He was an expert scuba diver, exploring the Aegean and the Red Sea. He also cycled extensively, including a solo trip while a student in Paris to the Rhineland (land of his roots) and numerous trips throughout France and in Italy. Well into his eighties, he could be found on the bike trails of Mississippi and Arizona as well as in the Washington DC area.

He was also an accomplished linguist, speaking fluent Greek, French, and German. He would often startle parking attendants in the DC area by addressing them in Amharic. He had a great and often irreverent sense of humor. He particularly enjoyed comic book characters such as Bugs Bunny (What's up ,Doc?) and the bumbling octogenarian Mr. McGoo. He loved contemporary American culture and was an avid jazz fan. He was also a lover of literature and could recite -at length- passages from Shakespeare's Henry V and other plays.

Mr. Zachary was a member of the Diplomatic and Consular Officers Retired, the American Foreign Service Protective Association, Modern Greek Studies Association, the Society for the Protection of the Greek Heritage, the River Road Unitarian Church, the Military Classics Seminar, and the Destroyer Escort Association.

His marriage to Carol Wenzel Zachary ended in divorce. Survivors include his companion of many years, Anne Overlin Severy, his two children, Pamela Jean Zachary of Seattle, Washington, and Dan William Zachary of Alexandria, VA, and one granddaughter, Alicia Janine Zachary-Erickson