Lebanon Reporter

Obituaries

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December 29, 2012

Alfred John Bertrand Adams

Mr. Alfred John Bertrand Adams, 81, of Lovettsville, Va., and formerly of Washington, DC, died Friday, Dec. 7, 2012, at his residence in Lovettsville.

Mr. Adams was born in England on Nov. 22, 1931, the son of the late Wilfrid and Francine Sophia (Bertrand) Adams.

He was one of the schoolchildren hurriedly evacuated from London days before war was declared in September 1939.  Drafted into the British army at 18, he was commissioned a second lieutenant and sent to Korea, where he led an infantry platoon in the First Commonwealth division, 1951-1952.

 John was married to Judith A. (Duff) Adams in October of 1978 in Lebanon. Mrs. Adams and their daughter, Caroline Adams, survive.

After completing his military service, Mr. Adams became a reporter for the London Daily Telegraph and studied language and literature at the universities of Paris and Munich. In 1956, at the height of the Cold War, he joined Radio Free Europe in Munich as an editor, later becoming Bonn bureau chief and acting head of the news division. He came to the United States in 1962. After a stint in Africa as a freelance correspondent for ABC News, he joined the network as a writer and producer in New York. He later joined CBS News, where he worked on news and documentaries with Walter Cronkite, Charles Kuralt and Mike Wallace.

In 1971, Mr. Adams was recruited by the Nixon White House to head the office of public affairs for the Price Commission in the Executive Office of the President. When the Commission folded in 1973, he launched his consulting firm, John Adams Associates Inc., to help corporations deal with the rapidly growing number of federal regulatory agencies. For the next four decades he specialized in economic, environmental, energy and health issues for many of the nation’s leading companies and trade associations.

In 1987, he co-founded and was first chairman of the Worldcom Group of independent public affairs firms, which became the world’s largest network of its kind, with more than 100 partner offices on five continents.

Mr. Adams was a longtime board member of the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Fund and its successor, the Freedom Radios Foundation, which raised funds to train aspiring journalists in emerging democracies, and served on the editorial board of the journal of International Security Affairs. He was a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and co-founder of the no-profit Environmental Health Research Foundation. He was a member of the National Press Club and the Overseas Press Club in New York, and was among the first consultants elected to the Hall of Fame of the national capital chapter of the Public Relations Society of America.

Survivors in addition to his wife, Mrs. Judith Adams, and daughter, Ms. Caroline Louise Adams, both of Lovettsville, Va., include a brother, Mr. Wilfrid Adams and wife, Heather, of Hobart, Tasmania (Australia); two brothers-in-law, Mr. Robert A. Duff and wife, Phyllis, and Mr. William R. Duff and wife, Mary; two nieces, Mrs. Sally Howard and husband, Michael, and Mrs. Christine Evans and husband, Daniel; four nephews, Mr. John Adams and wife, Arianna, Mr. Robert E. Duff, Mr. Gregory Duff and wife, Carrie, and Lt. Cmdr. Austin Duff and wife, Emily; 10 great-nieces and great-nephews, and cousin, Mrs. Patricia Smith and husband, Richard, and their children, Angela (Mark) Sachleben and David (Karen) Smith.

Private graveside memorial services will be held on Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2013, at Oak Hill Cemetery in Lebanon.

Myers Mortuary, 1502 North Lebanon Street, in Lebanon, Indiana, has been entrusted with the arrangements.

On Line Condolences may be made at www.myersmortuary.com.

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