William I. Cargo

William "Bill" Ira Cargo, 88, former U.S. Ambassador to Nepal and beloved husband of Margaret "Margot" Grace Ludwig Cargo for more than 67 years, died December 13, 2005, at the Gilchrist Center in Baltimore, Maryland, following a nearly three-week illness.

Born in Detroit on February 27, 1917, Bill Cargo spent his childhood in many towns in Michigan (his father was a Methodist minister) and graduated from Fenton High School in 1933. He received his bachelor's degree from Albion College in 1937 and his Ph.D. in political science from the University of Michigan in 1941, with what was then known as Palestine as the major topic of his dissertation.

After brief stints teaching political science at the University of Michigan and the following year at Colorado College, the attack on the United States at Pearl Harbor prompted him to apply for a position in the U.S. Navy in 1942. In early 1943, he put his Navy application on hold because he was appointed to the Division of Research and Publication at the U.S. Department of State, where he helped prepare the historical record, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1931. That task was followed by work on post-war planning, where he worked on a trusteeship system for non-self -governing nations by the planned new entity, the United Nations.

After he received a draft notice, he joined the U.S. Navy Reserve in 1944 and then was placed on active duty. After training in Florida and Colorado, he was assigned to the Navy Communications Annex in Washington, D.C. With the end of the war, he was reassigned in 1945 for duty with the Department of State, where he reported in uniform until his formal discharge from the Navy in 1946. This reassignment had been requested by the Department of State because of the rapid developments with the emerging United Nations. He worked with the State Department for the remainder of his long public service career.

Highlights of his career in the Department of State began with his continuing work on the formation and early meetings of the United Nations in the Office of Dependent Area Affairs. He was proud to have worked on the partition of Palestine that led to the creation of the state of Israel. He was also sent on long, remarkable trips to the Second Meeting of the United Nations in Paris and to the Pacific and Africa. He was selected by the Department of State to attend the National War College in 1953-54 and was formally sworn in as a Foreign Service Officer later in 1954.

As a Foreign Service Officer, he served in Paris, France (1954-1957) working on international strategic trade controls. He then returned to Washington (1957-1961) to the Department of State's Bureau of International Organization Affairs, working again with the United Nations, and he had a long sojourn in Geneva, Switzerland, working on the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks. Overseas assignments then included Deputy U.S. Representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, Austria (1961-63), Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Pakistan (1963-67), and Deputy U.S. Representative to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Brussels, Belgium (1967-69). Again in Washington (1969-1973), he served as Director of the Department of State's Policy Planning Staff and served on the U.S. delegation to a major international conference in Geneva on narcotic drugs. Then came his tour as U.S. Ambassador to Nepal (1973-76), and he ended his career working as a senior inspector of U.S. embassies (1976-78). Then residing in Arlington, Virginia, he consulted with the Department of State for several years after his formal retirement.

Henry Cabot Lodge, while U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations in 1957 wrote in a letter of commendation, "Mr. Cargo is a most able officer; he is industrious and well informed; he is possessed of sound judgment. I consider him a superior man in every respect." Throughout his life he received numerous awards, among them the Department of State's Meritorious Service Award in 1958 and an honorary doctorate from his alma mater, Albion College, on the occasion of a commencement address in 1963. During his time at Vantage House, a retirement community in Columbia, Maryland, he frequently led discussions on a variety of current international issues.

He is survived by his beloved wife, Margaret, one son, David Paul Cargo, one daughter, Ruth Cargo, and three grandchildren, all of Columbia, Maryland.

A funeral service will take place 2:00 p.m. Tuesday at Shaw Funeral Home, Lehman Chapel, Bellevue, Michigan, Dr. William A. Cargo, United Methodist Church, Oscoda, officiating.

Interment, Riverside Cemetery.

Memorial donations may go to Doctors Without Borders USA, P.O. Box 1856, Merrifield, VA 22116-8056 and Hospice of Howard County, 5537 Twin Knolls Road, Suite 133, Columbia, MD 21045.

The family is being served by Shaw Funeral Home, Lehman Chapel, Bellevue, Michigan.