Foreign Service Officer Created Publications Worldwide

Dennis Askey, 89, a retired Foreign Service officer with the U.S. Information Agency, who developed publications from Afghanistan to Africa to Japan, died March 1 of prostate cancer at the Washington Home hospice. He was a Washington resident.

After an early career as a printer and magazine editor, Mr. Askey joined USIA in 1956 and held jobs in Washington before accepting a six-month assignment to Afghanistan in 1960. He traveled throughout the country with a photographer, interviewing Afghans and collecting material for a 192-page book published by USIA, "Afghanistan: Ancient Land With Modern Ways."

Mr. Askey wrote the text and designed the book, which included almost 100 photos about life in the then-little-known mountain country.

After returning to Washington, Mr. Askey became a special assistant to famed broadcaster Edward R. Murrow, who was then USIA director.

In 1962, Mr. Askey joined a newly formed USIA publications department devoted to Africa. He traveled throughout the continent and launched a quarterly magazine, "Topic," that was published in French and English and distributed throughout sub-Saharan Africa.

He was the journal's editor, wrote some of its articles and assigned the rest. The publication included many in-depth features on the achievements of African American artists, musicians and cultural figures.

In 1969, Mr. Askey was named a Foreign Service officer and went to Japan as a publications officer assigned to the U.S. Embassy. He was the founding editor of the USIA magazine, "Trends USA, " which was written in Japanese and covered politics, economics, social issues and cultural life in the United States. In the 1990s, then-U.S. ambassador to Japan, Walter F. Mondale, said the magazine was instrumental in fostering understanding and warm relations between the two countries.

After six years in Japan, Mr. Askey went to Trinidad and Tobago as a public affairs officer from 1975 until his retirement in 1979. He received the USIA Meritorious Honor Award.

Mr. Askey was born in Gonzales, Tex., and attended Prairie View A&M University in his home state. He came to Washington in 1940.

He served in the Army during World War II and went ashore at Normandy Beach in France two days after D-Day in 1944.

Back in Washington after the war, he owned a printing shop, designed publications and put on weekend dances for teenagers for more than 10 years.

Mr. Askey was a lifelong tennis player and a devoted aficionado of jazz. He developed close friendships with many renowned performers, including Duke Ellington, Teddy Wilson, Oscar Peterson and Art Blakey. His record collection numbered in the thousands, and he spent years compiling a discography of Ellington's recordings. He occasionally delivered lectures and wrote articles about jazz.

In 1960, he sent a pointed letter to the editor of The Washington Post, taking exception with a review of a performance by the Count Basie Orchestra. Mr. Askey objected to the reviewer's complaint that "some fans . . . would be hard pressed to recognize anybody in William [Count] Basie's band."

"If your man means by 'some fans,' " Mr. Askey wrote, "those who have paid no attention to Basie for the past eight years or so, he is possibly correct. . . . But the statement is hardly worth making, as one must wonder if people who can, for nearly 10 years, ignore an orchestra that is far and away the most widely popular big band in jazz are really 'fans.' "

His marriage to Elnora Henry Askey ended in divorce.

Survivors include his wife of 29 years, Brita Askey of Washington; two sons from his first marriage, Dennis Askey Jr. of Stafford and Michael Askey of San Diego; two stepchildren, Christopher Corbin of Anaheim Hills, Calif., and Nicola Robinson of Maraval, Trinidad and Tobago; and five grandchildren.