Emory C. Swank

Emory C. Swank, president of the Cleveland Council on World Affairs from 1977 to 1987, died June 3, 2010 at Kendal at Oberlin where he had lived since 1995.

Mr. Swank, known principally by his nickname, Coby, came to Cleveland after a distinguished career as a member of the United States diplomatic service. His assignments over a period of years included Shanghai and Chingdao (China), Jakarta (Indonesia), Bucharest (Romania), and Vientiane (Laos). His principal interest was Soviet affairs. He had two assignments to Moscow, the first in the arresting period when Stalin's successors were struggling for power, and the second during the months before and after the USSR invaded Czechoslovakia. In Washington, Mr. Swank was Secretary of State Dean Rusk's special assistant.

His career culminated in his appointment in 1970 as Ambassador of Cambodia. During his three-year posting in Phnom Pehn the position of the Lon Nol governments steadily deteriorated as the Pol Pot insurgents drew near and as the U.S. was itself in the process of withdrawal from the Vietnam War. "Phnom Pehn," he commented to friends, "was the most frustrating experience of my life."

During his tenure at the council, Mr. Swank lectured on a variety of subjects and expanded the council's role in the community, which includes a Model UN for high school students, assistance to foreign visitors, as well as lectures on important policy issues.

Mr. Swank, a Marylander, was graduated from Franklin & Marshall College magna cum laude in 1942 and obtained an MA from Harvard in English before serving in World War II in Europe. He was awarded a Bronze Star for maintaining communication links in combat. He is survived by several cousins.

A memorial service will be held at Kendal at Oberlin in the fall of 2010 at a date and time to be determined.