Obituaries

Arthur R. DornheimForeign Service Officer

Arthur R. Dornheim, 87, a Foreign Service officer who retired in 1977 and spent 11 years as an executive with the Japan-America Society of Washington, died June 23 at Suburban Hospital of pneumonia.

Mr. Dornheim joined the State Department in 1949 and became a Foreign Service economics officer. His assignments included Hong Kong; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; and Taipei, Taiwan.

In retirement, he became the first full-time staff member of the Japan-America Society. He served as executive director and later as associate director.

He also worked in the children's department at a Bethesda bookstore and was treasurer of the Battery Park Citizens Association in Bethesda.

Arthur Rieper Dornheim, a Bethesda resident, was born in Manhattan, N.Y., and grew up in Bronxville, N.Y. He was a 1942 graduate of Yale University.

He attended the Navy's Japanese language school during World War and served in the Pacific as a translator and escort of Japanese prisoners. After the war, he was involved in the occupation of Japan and received a master's degree in international affairs from Columbia University.

A son, Michael Dornheim, died in 2006.

Survivors include his wife of 55 years, Charleen Egan Dornheim of Bethesda; a son, Daniel Dornheim of Los Angeles; and a sister.

-- Adam Bernstein