John A. Hoskins ’51

John A. Hoskins ’51, a longtime U.S. Foreign Service officer and United Nations food and agriculture specialist, died in Columbus, Ohio, on December 28, 2017. John majored in international relations at Dartmouth. He was a member of Kappa Sigma and assistant editor of the Aegis. He later received graduate degrees from the Ohio State University College of Law, George Washington University and the National War College. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps as a rifle platoon commander in Korea. John was an assistant district attorney in Ohio and legal counsel to the Ohio Civil Rights Commission before beginning a 30-year international career. In 1960 he joined the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) as regional general counsel for Southeast Asia, based in Vietnam and Thailand. Later posts included Burkina Faso and Mauritania as mission director. He was recognized for this work with USAID’s Outstanding Achievement Award. In 1982 John moved to the UN as a food and agriculture officer working in Uganda, Rwanda, Bangladesh and the Caribbean. Upon retirement John returned to his family farm in Richwood, Ohio; the property had been owned by his family since 1838. He became a full-time volunteer, helping veterans, local businesses, older adults and youth, as well as advocating for the preservation of farmland. He received numerous honors from the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion, his community, county and the state of Ohio. John is survived by his wife, Patria, four children and four grandchildren.