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Fritz Cocron died peacefully in his sleep after a brief illness on Wednesday, December 15, 2010, his 92 birthday. Dr. Cocron will be missed by his many students, friends and colleagues in New Mexico as well as the wider world. Born into a distinguished family of the old Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1918, in Ljubljana (now Slovenia), he pursued studies in Slavic linguistics with PhDs from the Universities of Vienna as well as Paris. He was studying at Harvard when invited to join the cultural branch of the Austrian diplomatic service in the 1950s. In his career as a mediator between his country's culture and that of other lands, he served successively many years in Paris and as the founding director of the Austrian Cultural Institute in Warsaw, Poland, before retiring from the diplomatic service as director of the similar institute in New York City. Having always wanted also to teach, he then served as a faculty member at Princeton University before coming to UNM as a distinguished visiting lecturer in History and other departments in the late 1980s. His wit, humanity, easy command of a half-dozen languages, urbane if lightly-carried learning and unswerving Old World gentlemanly courtesy endeared him to all who met him. Dr. Cocron is survived by three sons, Alexander (Seattle), Stephan (San Francisco) and George (Pittsburgh). In accordance with his wishes, no funeral ceremony will be held. Friends and admirers may care to visit the Times and Seasons Columbarium at Sunset Memorial Park in Albuquerque, where Dr. Cocron's remains will occupy Niche B-12, for a quiet moment of memory. A public Memorial Service in future is planned. Please visit the online guestbook for Fritz at: www.RememberTheirStory.com. FRENCH 1111 University Blvd. NE (505) 843-6333
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