Remembering Richard Solomon
Ambassadors, Secretaries of State and ex-Students Honor Long-time USIP President
Family, students and colleagues of Amb. Richard Solomon remembered him April 3 at the U.S. Institute of Peace, which he led and shaped for 19 years. Solomon—a scholar and diplomat who helped accomplish the 1970s opening of U.S. relations with China—died last month at age 79.
In Solomon, “we … celebrate somebody who touched all of us through his many years of work,” his successor, USIP President Nancy Lindborg, told the hundreds of participants. She recalled him as an “incredibly warm and welcoming and engaging person… a wise presence.” Speakers included former Assistant Secretary of State Chester Crocker and China specialist Jan Berris, a former student of Solomon’s at the University of Michigan.
He animated the vision of taking the ideas and the scholarship of what was a much smaller institution and applying them in the field, taking the work to the communities that were wracked by conflict—this idea that we could build peace with very practical ideas.
The audience heard written tributes to him from former Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger, George Shultz and James Baker. In a reflection of Solomon’s eclectic pursuits, the tributes came as well from architect Moshe Safdie—the designer of USIP’s headquarters and Israel’s Yad Vashem memorial—and from pianist Chick Corea, with whom Solomon shared a conviction in the peacebuilding power of good jazz. “We … shared in our own ways, the mission of bringing peace and harmony to our world,” Corea wrote.
China scholar and Asia Foundation Chairman Mike Lampton characterized Solomon by recalling a quotation from gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson that Solomon and his wife, Anne, had given him: “Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body—but rather, to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming, ‘Wow! What a ride!’”
Shakespeare told us, ‘The evil men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones.’ Shakespeare didn’t count on a man like Dick Solomon. The good he did will live long after him. If you don’t believe me, look around this remarkable place and its accomplishments as an example.
He mainstreamed the study and practice of peacemaking. … He put USIP on the map as the go-to place for thought leadership on conflict management and peacemaking.
