[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 34 (Monday, March 11, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Page S1590]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     REMEMBERING ROBERT TEXTOR PH.D

 Mr. WYDEN. Madam President, earlier this year my home state of 
Oregon lost one of its most visionary citizens, Dr. Robert Bayard 
Textor. Today I wish to join his friends, family, colleagues, and I 
hope the rest of the country, in mourning the loss of this thoughtful 
and uniquely accomplished man, who would have turned 90 this week.
  Linguists tell us that the term ``citizen'' is synonymous with an 
inhabitant of a city or community. Bob was all of that and much more.
  Bob began his studies at Antioch College before joining the U.S. Army 
in 1943. After the war he volunteered to use newly acquired language 
skills to aid in the reconstruction of post-war Japan. Like our late 
colleague former Senator Mark Hatfield, his experiences in that war-
ravaged country proved to be a turning point in his life. When he left 
Japan in 1948, Bob resumed his formal education and focused his Ph.D. 
studies at Cornell on what would be his lifelong passion--cultural 
anthropology--and committed himself to a career of seeking better ways 
to handle human problems.
  Amid the Cold War and the arms race, Bob's drive to reduce 
intercultural misunderstanding led him to study first in Vienna, 
Austria, and late in Asia where he studied four different Asian 
languages.
  Upon his return to the U.S., Bob advised the then-nascent Peace Corps 
in 1961-1962. During that time, he helped train the first cohort of 
Peace Corps Volunteers to be deployed in Thailand and wrote a memo to 
Peace Corps Director Sargent Shriver titled ``In-Up-Out.'' That 
concept, specifying how the Peace Corps would benefit by staying 
youthful and vigorous, guides the agency to this day.
  Bob joined the faculty of Stanford University in 1964. When he 
retired in 1990, he served as a Courtesy Professor of International 
Studies at the University of Oregon, bringing his rare gifts to 
Oregonians and visiting students alike.
  While he researched, taught and studied at Harvard, Stanford, Oregon, 
and Cornell, above all, Dr. Textor was an anthropologist and an 
important innovator in the use of quantitative methods in comparative 
global analysis. He remains a force in what is now known as 
anticipatory anthropology and his work in this field lives on through 
the Textor Family Prize for Excellence in Anticipatory Anthropology.
  He wrote a comprehensive book on the legendary Margaret Mead titled 
``The World Ahead,'' and, at the request of Motorola, co-authored an 
analysis of its corporate culture titled ``Uncompromising Integrity: 
Motorola's Global Challenge.''
  While Dr. Textor will be remembered by his peers for his academic and 
governmental achievements, Bob Textor's legacy is much more personal. 
In Portland, Bob served on the Metro Future Vision Commission and 
helped craft a report which still guides the Portland Metro area's 
development.
  In 1998, Bob's ``thirst'' for knowledge prompted him to found a 
policy salon that lives today: The Thirsters. Convened every Thursday 
except Thanksgiving, the Thirsters bring together policy experts, 
diplomats, business people and academicians to thrash out issues of 
technology, politics, social justice, ethics, sustainability and 
culture, all done amicably over glasses of Oregon's famous home-grown 
beverages.
  To quote his fellow Thirster, Lewis and Clark College Professor 
Emeritus Roger Paget: ``He leaves a significant legacy, not only in 
several professional fields and the community of Thirsters, but above 
all in Marisa and Alex, his children, both of whom imbibed his love of 
making sense out of being in different cultures.''
  On behalf of his colleagues, the millions who have benefitted from 
their experience with the Peace Corps and my constituents in the 
Thirsters, I want to express my appreciation for Bob Textor's life and 
service to his country and the world.

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