What would war with N. Korea look like?
To members and friends of the Providence Committee on Foreign Relations (thepcfr.org; pcfremail@gmail.com):
Harry J. Kazianis (Twitter link: @Grecianformula), director of Defense Studies at the Center for the National Interest, will speak on Wednesday, Nov. 1, on what a U.S. war with North Korea might look like.
He also serves as executive editor of the center's publishing arm, The National Interest, the largest online publication focusing on foreign-policy issues.
He is a well-known expert on national-security issues involving North Korea,
China, the broader Asia-Pacific as well as U.S. foreign policy in general. He is also a Fellow for National Security Affairs at the Potomac Foundation and a non-resident Senior Fellow at the University of Nottingham (UK). He holds a master’s degree in international affairs from Harvard University.
On Wednesday, Nov. 15, Maria Karangianis will speak on the refugee crisis in the eastern Mediterranean.
In May 2015, she traveled to the Greek Island of Lesbos, within sight of Turkey. At that time, hundreds of thousands of refugees were spilling onto the beaches in leaky boats, many of them dying, trying to find freedom from war-torn Syria. The people of the island, who have been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for their generosity, have faced an economic catastrophe with tourism, their main source of income. Maria is currently a Woodrow Wilson visiting fellow and has traveled across the United States speaking at colleges and universities. She is a former guest editor and former award-winning writer on the editorial board of The Boston Globe.
On Wednesday, Jan. 17, comes Victoria Bruce, author of Sellout: How Washington Gave Away America's Technological Soul, and One Man's Fight to Bring It Home. This is about, among other things, China’s monopolization of rare earths, which are essential in electronics.
On Wednesday, Feb. 21, comes Dan Strechay, the U.S. representative for outreach and engagement at the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), who talk about the massive deforestation and socio-economic effects associated with producing palm oil in the Developing World and what to do about them.
Prior to joining the RSPO, he was the senior manager for Sustainability Communications for PepsiCo.
Graham Allison to speak at the PCFR: Are China and America destined for war?
Coming up at the Providence Committee on Foreign Relations (thepcfr.org; pcfremail@gmail.com):
On Wednesday, Oct. 11, comes Graham Allison, who will talk about, among other things, Chinese expansionism in the South China Sea. He'll discuss his new book Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides's Trap?
Graham Allison was director of Harvard's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs from 1995 until July 2017. Allison is a leading analyst of U.S. national security and defense policy, with a special interest in nuclear weapons, terrorism and decision-making.
On Wednesday Nov. 15, comes prize-winning journalist Maria Karagianis, who will talk about the refugee crisis on the Greek island of Lesbos.
In May 2015, she traveled to Lesbos, which is within sight of Turkey. At that time, hundreds of thousands of refugees were spilling onto the beaches in leaky boats, many of them dying, trying to find freedom from war-torn Syria. The Greek people of the island, who have been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for their generosity, are now facing an economic catastrophe with tourism, their main source of income, which is now destroyed. She is currently a Woodrow Wilson visiting fellow and has traveled across the United States speaking at colleges and universities. She is a former guest editor and award-winning writer on the editorial board of The Boston Globe..
On Wednesday, Jan. 27, comes Victoria Bruce, who will talk about China's near monopoly of rare-earth elements.
She is the author of Sellout: How Washington Gave Away America's Technological Soul, and One Man's Fight to Bring It Home. This is about, among other things, China’s monopolization of rare earths, which are essential in electronics.
Victoria Bruce holds a master's degree in geology from the University of California, Riverside, where she researched the chemistry of volcanic hazards on Mount Rainer in Washington State. She has directed and produced four documentary films, earning the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award for excellence in broadcast journalism for her film, The Kidnapping of Ingrid Betancourt. She also received the Duke University Human Rights Book Award for Hostage Nation.
On Wednesday, Feb. 21, comes Dan Strechay, who will talk about the environmental and socio-economical effects of the vast palm-oil agribusiness.
He is the U.S. representative for outreach and engagement at the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). He'll discuss, among other things, the massive deforestation associated with producing palm oil in the Developing World and what to do about it. Prior to joining the RSPO, he was the senior manager for Sustainability Communications for PepsiCo.
Explaining Putin; Will China and U.S. go to war?
The friendly face of Vladimir Putin.
To members and friends of the Providence Committee on Foreign Relations (thepcfr.org; pcfremail@gmail.com).o.
With Russian intrusion into American politics and government such an issue, we thought it would a good idea to recruit a Russia expert to start off our season. Thus we have the distinguished Prof. David R. Stone of the U.S. Naval War College lined up for Wednesday, Sept. 13.
He'll explain Putin and the new Russian nationalism and how it affects us.
Professor Stone received his B.A. in history and mathematics from Wabash College and his Ph.D in history from Yale University. He has taught at Hamilton College and at Kansas State University, where he served as director of the Institute for Military History. He has also been a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University. His first book Hammer and Rifle: The Militarization of the Soviet Union, 1926-1933 (2000) won the Shulman Prize of the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies and the Best First Book Prize of the Historical Society. He has also published A Military History of Russia: From Ivan the Terrible to the War in Chechnya (2006), and The Russian Army in the Great War: The Eastern Front, 1914-1917 (2015). He also edited The Soviet Union at War, 1941-1945(2010). He is the author of several dozen articles and book chapters on Russian / Soviet military history and foreign policy.
On Wednesday, Oct. 11, Graham Allison, who has been running Harvard’s Belfer Institute, will talk about, among other things, Chinese expansionism in the South China Sea. He'll talk about his new book Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides's Trap?
PCFR new season; watching Venezuela
The Providence Committee on Foreign Relations (thepcfr.org; pcfremail@gmail.com) is watching events in Venezuela, now being dragged into all-out dictatorship. Hit this link:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/venezuela-ushers-in-new-pro-government-chamber-as-opposition-vows-rebellion/2017/08/04/9c0c71e2-7883-11e7-8c17-533c52b2f014_story.html?utm_term=.abb99f0a3bea
Much of New England’s heating oil has come from once-prosperous Venezuela, now facing economic collapse and political violence.
Meanwhile, with Russian intrusion into American politics and government such an issue, PCFR planners thought it would a good idea to recruit a Russia expert to start off its 2017-2018 season. Thus it has the distinguished Prof. David R. Stone of the U.S. Naval War College lined up for its Wednesday, Sept. 13 dinner.
He'll explain Putin and the new Russian nationalism and how it affects us.
Professor Stone received his B.A. in history and mathematics from Wabash College and his Ph.D in history from Yale University. He has taught at Hamilton College and at Kansas State University, where he served as director of the Institute for Military History. He has also been a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University. His first book Hammer and Rifle: The Militarization of the Soviet Union, 1926-1933 (2000) won the Shulman Prize of the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies and the Best First Book Prize of the Historical Society. He has also published A Military History of Russia: From Ivan the Terrible to the War in Chechnya (2006), and The Russian Army in the Great War: The Eastern Front, 1914-1917 (2015). He also edited The Soviet Union at War, 1941-1945 (2010). He is the author of several dozen articles and book chapters on Russian / Soviet military history and foreign policy.
The rest of the PCFR fall season:
French Consul General Valery Freland will talk about how the French presidential-election outcome might change that nation’s foreign policy and the Western Alliance, on Wednesday, Sept. 27. By the way, he went to school with French President Macron.
Then on Wednesday, Oct. 11, Graham Allison, who has been running Harvard’s Belfer Institute, will talk about, among other things, Chinese expansionism in the South China Sea. He'll talk about his new book Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides's Trap?
On Wednesday, Nov. 1, comes Michael Soussan, the writer and skeptic about the United Nations. He’s the author of, among other things, Backstabbing for Beginners, about his experiences in Iraq, which is being made into a movie starring BenKingsley.
PCFR season opener on Russia; watching Venezuela
The Kremlin.
The Providence Committee on Foreign Relations (thepcfr.org; pcfremail@gmail.com) is watching events in Venezuela, now being dragged into all-out dictatorship. Hit this link:
Much of New England’s heating oil has come from once-prosperous Venezuela, now facing economic collapse and political violence.
Meanwhile, with Russian intrusion into American politics and government such an issue, PCFR planners thought it would a good idea to recruit a Russia expert to start off its 2017-2018 season. Thus it has the distinguished Prof. David R. Stone of the U.S. Naval War College lined up for its Wednesday, Sept. 13 dinner.
He'll explain Putin and the new Russian nationalism and how it affects us.
Professor Stone received his B.A. in history and mathematics from Wabash College and his Ph.D in history from Yale University. He has taught at Hamilton College and at Kansas State University, where he served as director of the Institute for Military History. He has also been a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University. His first book Hammer and Rifle: The Militarization of the Soviet Union, 1926-1933 (2000) won the Shulman Prize of the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies and the Best First Book Prize of the Historical Society. He has also published A Military History of Russia: From Ivan the Terrible to the War in Chechnya (2006), and The Russian Army in the Great War: The Eastern Front, 1914-1917 (2015). He also edited The Soviet Union at War, 1941-1945 (2010). He is the author of several dozen articles and book chapters on Russian / Soviet military history and foreign policy.
The rest of the PCFR fall season:
French Consul General Valery Freland will talk about how the French presidential-election outcome might change that nation’s foreign policy and the Western Alliance, on Wednesday, Sept. 27. By the way, he went to school with French President Macron.
Then on Wednesday, Oct. 11, Graham Allison, who has been running Harvard’s Belfer Institute, will talk about, among other things, Chinese expansionism in the South China Sea. He'll talk about his new book Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides's Trap?
On Wednesday, Nov. 1, comes Michael Soussan, the writer and skeptic about the United Nations. He’s the author of, among other things, Backstabbing for Beginners, about his experiences in Iraq, which is being made into a movie starring BenKingsley.
The North Korean threat
The Korean Peninsula at night. Note the brightness of Seoul, the South Korean capital, and the darkness of North Korea.
May 19, 2017
To members and friends of the Providence Committee on Foreign Relations (pcfremail@gmail.com; thepcfr.org).
Our next dinner meeting comes on Thursday, June 1, with our speaker Terence Roehrig, of the U.S. Naval War College, where he is a professor of National Security Affairs, the Director of the Asia-Pacific Studies Group, and teaches in the Security Strategies sub-course. He has been a Research Fellow at the Kennedy School at Harvard University in the International Security Program and the Project on Managing the Atom and a past President of the Association of Korean Political Studies.
As usual, the event will be in the Hope Club, at 6 Benevolent St., Providence, across the street from the Unitarian Church. Drinks start at 6, dinner by about 6:40, the talk starts at or a little before dessert, followed by a Q&A and the evening ends at 9 (except for those who wish to repair to the bar). .
Joining us on Wednesday, June 14, our last dinner meeting of the season, will be Laura Freid, who has been serving as CEO of the Silk Road Project, founded and chaired by famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma in 1998, promoting collaboration among artists and institutions and studying the ebb and flow of ideas across nations and time. The project was first inspired by the cultural traditions of the historical Silk Road. Ms. Freid was recently named president of the Maine College of Art. There will be visuals and perhaps music.
Fishing out all the seas' fish? North Korean conflict; happy Silk Road
To members and friends of the Providence Committee on Foreign Relations (pcfremail@gmail.com; thepcfr.org).
Our next meeting comes Wednesday, May 17, with James E. Griffin, an expert on the global food sector. He's a professor of culinary studies at Johnson & Wales University and an international business consultant. He's particularly well known for his knowledge of global food sourcing and sustainability.
Professor Griffin will focus in his talk on seafood sustainability, looking at it with New England, national and international perspectives. It will be based on international research he and his colleagues have conducted in recent years.
You might to look at this New York Times story about rapacious Chinese overfishing.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/30/world/asia/chinas-appetite-pushes-fisheries-to-the-brink.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=second-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0
On Thursday, June 1, comes Terence Roehrig, of the U.S. Naval War College, where he is a professor of National Security Affairs, the Director of the Asia-Pacific Studies Group, and teaches in the Security Strategies sub-course. He has been a Research Fellow at the Kennedy School at Harvard University in the International Security Program and the Project on Managing the Atom and a past President of the Association of Korean Political Studies.
Joining us on Wednesday, June 14, will be Laura Freid, who has been serving as CEO of the Silk Road Project, founded and chaired by famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma in 1998, promoting collaboration among artists and institutions and studying the ebb and flow of ideas across nations and time. The project was first inspired by the cultural traditions of the historical Silk Road. Ms. Freid was recently named president of the Maine College of Art. There will be visuals and perhaps music.
We are already working on the fall season. There may be an expert on Mexico (perhaps Jorge Castenada) or Putin’s foreign policy (perhaps Dmitri Trenin) coming to speak early in September. Will advise.
Already scheduled is French Consul General Valery Freland, who will talk about how the French presidential-election outcome might change that nation’s foreign policy and the Western Alliance. He’ll speak on Wednesday, Sept. 27.
Then on Wednesday, Oct. 11, Graham Allison, who has been running Harvard’s Belfer Institute, will talk about, among other things, Chinese expansionism in the South China Sea. He'll talk about his new book Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides's Trap?
On Wednesday, Nov. 1, comes Michael Soussan, the writer and skeptic about the United Nations. He’s the author of, among other things, Backstabbing for Beginners, about his experiences in Iraq, which is being made into a movie starring Ben Kingsley.
Meanwhile, we’re trying to keep some flexibility to respond to events. Please send along ideas.
Fighting global disease threats
The various influenza viruses in humans. Solid squares show the appearance of a new strain, causing recurring influenza pandemics. Broken lines indicate uncertain strain identifications.
To members and friends of the Providence Committee on Foreign Relations (thepcfr.org; pcfremail@gmail.com):
The next PCFR dinner meeting comes on Wednesday, April 19, with Dr. Rand Stoneburner, M.D., the distinguished international epidemiologist. Dr. Stoneburner, who has done extensive work with the World Health Organization, among other public health organizations, will talk about Zika, Ebola and the biggest threat – a global influenza pandemic. He’ll have some graphics.
Tonight's PCFR: French elections, Brexit, Trump & other adventures
To members and friends of the Providence Committee on Foreign Relations (pcfremail@gmail.com; thepcfr.org):
Jean Lesieur, one of Europe’s most distinguished journalists, will be the speaker at tonight's (April 5) Providence Committee on Foreign Relations’ dinner. Mr. Lesieur is a novelist, a co-founder of France 24 (the French version of CNN), a former foreign correspondent and a former senior editor at the magazines Le Point and L’Express, among other publications. Among other things, he’ll talk about Europe in the Brexit/Trump eras, the state of the Western Alliance and, of course, the wild French election campaign.
The road from Rio
March 12, 2017
To members and friends of the Providence Committee on Foreign Relations (thepcfr.org; pcfremail@gmail.com).
New England’s bizarre climate – the worst part of the winter comes near its end this year!
Distinguished Brazilian political economist and commentator Evodio Kaltenecker will speak on Thursday, March 16, about the challenges and opportunities for that huge nation as well as conditions in South America’s Southern Cone – Uruguay, Argentina and Chile. The recent past has been very tumultuous in Brazil particularly. Will the instability continue?
The title of his talk:
Brazil: 2018 and beyond and the pro-market wave in Latin America.
At PCFR: Looking at trade wars
To members and friends of the Providence Committee on Foreign Relations (thepcfr.org; pcfremail@gmail.com).
Our next dinner comes on Wednesday, Dec. 14, with:
Jeffrey Frankel, James W. Harpel Professor of Capital Formation and Growth at Harvard and former member of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers. He will talk about international trade and when and if it’s good for national economies.
His research interests include international finance, monetary policy, regional blocs, East Asia and global climate change. His publications include "Does Trade Cause Growth?" in the American Economic Review, and “Regional Trading Blocs.’’
American trade deals were, of course, huge (or is it “yuge’’?) issues in the U.S. presidential campaign and helped elect Donald Trump.
Meanwhile, Jeff Colgan sent this along:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/11/29/donald-trump-is-an-economic-nationalist-whats-an-economic-nationalist/
At the PCFR: Global warming and international security
To members and friends of the Providence Committee on Foreign Relations (thepcfr.org; pcfremail@gmail.com).
Our next dinner comes on Nov. 15, with U. S. Naval War College Prof. James Holmes talking about the geopolitical and security issues presented by global warming,
Then on Dec. 14:
Jeffrey Frankel, James W. Harpel Professor of Capital Formation and Growth at Harvard and former member of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers. He will talk about international trade and when and if it’s good for national economies.
His research interests include international finance, monetary policy, regional blocs, East Asia and global climate change. His publications include "Does Trade Cause Growth?" in the American Economic Review, and “Regional Trading Blocs.’’
German General Consul Ralf Harlmann on Wednesday, Jan. 11, on the role of Germany in the post-Brexit world and facing a more aggressive Russia.
International epidemiologist Rand Stoneburner, M.D., on Zika and other burgeoning threats to world health, Jan. 18.
Indian Admiral Nirmal Verma, on military and geopolitical issues in South and Southeast Asia, Feb. 15.
Dr. Stephen Coen, director of the Mystic Aquarium, on the condition of the oceans, March 8.
Brazilian political economist and commentator Evodio Kaltenecker on April 5 to talk about the crises facing that huge nation.
James E. Griffin, an expert on ocean fishing and other aspects of the global food sector, will speak to us on Wednesday, May 17.
Joining us on Wednesday, June 14, will be Laura Freid, CEO of the Silk Road Project, founded and chaired by famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma in 1998, promoting collaboration among artists and institutions and studying the ebb and flow of ideas across nations and time. The project was first inspired by the cultural traditions of the historical Silk Road.
Genghis Khan Night at the PCFR
To members and friends of the Providence Committee on Foreign Relations (thepcfr.org; pcfremail@gmail.com)
The PCFR's next dinner comes fast, next Wednesday, Sept. 21, when our speaker will be:
Columbia University Prof. Morris Rossabi, one of the world’s greatest experts on Inner Asia and particularly Mongolia: a democracy stuck between the aggressive police states of Russia and China, Sept. 21. How does this faraway country do it? Professor Rossabi will be speaking to us very soon after returning from Mongolia and Korea; he may say a few things about the latest in North Korea’s threats to northeast Asia and beyond.
Prof. Rossabi is the author or editor of 20 books, including China and Inner Asia, Kublai Khan: His Life and Times, Voyager from Xanadu, Modern Mongolia, and China Among Equals. He has also written more than 100 articles or chapters in books and wrote all of the sections on Inner Asia in three separate volumes of the authoritative Cambridge History of China.
(Perhaps he’ll say some things about Genghis Khan, who DNA evidence suggest was an ancestor of many of us. He really got around Eurasia.)
Morris Rossabi has served as a board member of the Project on Central Eurasia and chair of the Board on Arts and Culture of the Soros Foundation. Professor Rossabi has collaborated on exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Cleveland Museum of Art, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and has served as a consultant to foundations, museums, universities, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Having taught Chinese, Japanese, Mongolian, Central Asian, and Islamic history, he conducts research in a dozen languages. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and is an advocate of international and cross-cultural education.
David Warsh: Duking it out about the European economic crisis
This first ran in economicprincipals.com and then on the site of the Providence Committee on Foreign Relations (thepcfr.org)
Towards the end The Euro and the Battle of Ideas (Princeton, 2016), by Markus Brunnermeier, Harold James and Jean-Pierre Landau, the authors observe that most of the debate about the economic crisis of the European Union takes place in the English-language press: the Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Economist. This means it is filtered through a sort of condescension about Europe not really “getting it,” they say.
Moreover, they note that the debate fosters the impression that a considerable gap exists between central bankers and technocratic experts and ordinary folk caught in the machinations of the technocrats. European crises thus are increasingly depicted by populists who see themselves as defending citizens against a cosmopolitan elite.
Doubt it? The authors are too polite to say so, but a case in point is The Euro: How a Common Currency Threatens the Future of Europe (Norton, 2016), by Nobel laureate , a peripatetic Columbia University professor. According to Stiglitz, the Euro has been an abject failure. Policy-makers removed two key adjustment mechanisms from member states – interest and exchange rates – without creating various pan-European policy instruments and safety nets to replace them.
The result, he says, is disastrous, with depressions in some countries worse than the Great Depression. “Europe need not be crucified on the cross of the Euro,” writes Stiglitz. It is time to give up on a single currency, separating the Euro into Northern and Southern versions, with debts of all parties denominated in the softer and more flexible Southern Euro.
Stiglitz’s book has been reviewed in the FT, WSJ, NYT, and The Economist, generally respectfully, often critically (Roger Lowenstein gave the book a proper going-over in the Sunday Times). Meanwhile The Euro and the Battle of Ideas has appeared in none of them. Yet in all respects the latter is the better book. It is harder to read, that’s true. In their determination to expose the roots of the battle of ideas that has escalated since the Euro-crisis began – between the northern, or German economic philosophy, and a southern view, associated since the French Revolution mainly with France – the authors have produced a book that is in equal parts history lesson, international economics primer, guide to cultural differences, and political treatise. .
They have the advantage of being deeply involved. Brunnermeier, who is German, is a Princeton University professor, a cutting-edge international macroeconomist who serves on the European Systemic Risk Board. James, a British citizen, also of Princeton, is an economic historian, author of Making the European Monetary Union and Europe Reborn. Landau is a former deputy direct of the Banque de France and former executive director of both the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. They write:
"The basic elements of the contrasting philosophies can be delineated quite simply. The northern version is about rules, rigor, and consistency, while the southern emphasis is on the need for flexibility, adaptability and innovation. It is Kant vs. Machiavelli. Economists have long been familiar with this kind of debate and they refer to it as rules versus discretion.''
If that sounds familiar, it’s because European integration is fraught with the same kinds of misunderstandings and misinterpretations as exist between men and women, according to the authors. In the last sentence of the book, they draw the obvious moral: “[W]hat we have characterized as the German view and the French view actually need each other to be sustainable.” As with men and women, in between exists lifetimes of negotiation, including some doleful possibilities. Surmounting many little crises all at once often results in closer union; too many crises all at once may mean divorce.
If Europe is high on your list of concerns, you should read this book; European leaders will. Otherwise you can go to whatever is next among your Sunday responsibilities. I have no time to do it justice here to the intricacies of its Teutonic /Mediterranean, east-of-the-Rhine/west-of-the-Rhine arguments. For me, the most intriguing idea was the brief discussion of the emergence of Spitzenkandidaten (leading candidates, in English) that Brunnermeier, James and Landau identify as a promising sign.
Popular election of European leaders appeared for the first time in 2014. Instead of waiting, as in the past, to be assigned to the task by log-rolling heads of state, pan-European candidates competed directly with one another to head the European Commission. They traveled around the EC’s twenty-eight member states, debating each other and giving interviews to local media, each in his or her own language.
Ever-better simultaneous translation is in the offing. British premier David Cameron was, not for the last time, the big loser. Here is an excellent video account of the innovation, as buoying, at least to my mind, as a quick trip to Berlin, Meanwhile, a little less hectoring from I-told-you-so American economists would be welcome.
David Warsh, a longtime economic historian and financial columnist, is proprietor of economicprincipals.com, where this first appeared.
George T. Giraud, RIP
The Providence Committee on Foreign Relations (thepcfr.org) mourns the loss of George T. Giraud of Providence and South County, who died April 17 at the age of 96. This kindly gentleman was a longtime, very loyal and enthusiastic member of the PCFR and a dedicated Rhode Island civic leader.
We extend our condolences to his widow, Anne, and the rest of his family and many friends.
Mr. Giraud spent his childhood in France and graduated from Blair Academy and Brown University, Class of '42. He served in World War II as a lieutenant (jg) in the U.S. Navy in the Pacific.
As an investment adviser in Providence his career spanned four decades until his retirement as a senior vice president with Paine Webber.
During his years of community involvement he served on many boards, including the Legal Aid Society, the Society of Financial Analysts, the Boys and Girls Clubs and several Rhode Island state development councils and commissions.
A dedicated world traveler, he also loved antique cars.
Among his great pleasures, besides PCFR dinners, were the Review Club, the Shakespeare Society and the Providence
In recognition of his 30 years of service, including terms as president and treasurer, in lieu of flowers, memorial donations to the Providence Boys and Girls Clubs (550 Wickenden St., Providence, 02903) would be appreciated. Condolences may be left at monahandrabblesherman.com.