Robert William (Bill) Farrand, a former U.S. ambassador who in retirement became a longtime distinguished senior fellow in George Mason University’s School of Public Policy (now the Schar School of Policy and Government), died on April 26 in Alexandria, Virginia. The cause was Parkinson’s Disease.
Farrand was an instrumental affiliate faculty member of the Peace Operations Policy Program, preparing students and practicing professionals for careers in conflict resolution.
A career Foreign Service officer, Farrand was ambassador to Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu between 1990 and 1993, then served as Deputy High Representative, Bosnia and Herzegovina, from 1997 to 2000.
Farrand cowrote, with former Schar School Peace Operations program director Allison Frendak-Blume, the textbook Reconstruction and Peace Building in the Balkans: The Brcko Experience (2011). The book recapped his efforts in implementing the Dayton Peace Accords in the ethically divided Balkan territory of Brcko in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“I admired his nonstop energy and commitment to building peace—something he carried over to his teaching in the Peace Operations program here at Mason,” said Distinguished Visiting Professor Richard Kauzlarich, who worked with Farrand when Kauzlarich was U.S. Ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina. “We will miss him as a valued friend and colleague.”
Farrand was a member of the Cornwallis Group, the American Academy of Diplomacy, the American Foreign Service Association, and the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training.