Knoxville – Edward W. (Ted) Lollis II, 83, of Knoxville, TN, passed away on Sunday, December 20, 2020. He was a retired Foreign Service Officer, scholar, author and entrepreneur.
Born in Indianapolis, IN, he was the son of Edward and Georgia May Campbell Lollis. He was a graduate of Howe High School in Indianapolis, and Yale University where he earned a BA cum laude in geology. He also studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Antigonish & Middleton, Nova Scotia), Princeton University (Princeton, NJ & Dominican Republic), University of Melbourne (Australia) on a Fulbright Scholarship, University of Wisconsin (Madison) and the Foreign Service Institute. He returned home from his studies in Australia by completing an around-the-world route. While in India, Ted had “an epiphany…that I preferred people to rocks, I joined the federal government as a career Foreign Service Officer.”
After serving in the U.S. Army, Ted became a Foreign Service Officer with expertise in Sub-Saharan Africa, development finance, energy policy, economic & commercial affairs, and consular affairs. His postings included Rwanda, Paris (OECD), Ivory Coast, Nigeria, London, and multiple assignments at the U.S. Department of State. He helped prepare President Reagan for the North-South Summit in Cancun, Mexico, and negotiated international development strategy for the United Nations (New York & Geneva). He retired from the Foreign Service in 1987 after serving as U.S. Consul General in Bordeaux, France. After a brief stint as the Executive Director for the American Committee on the French Revolution, he became an entrepreneur. He was the owner of National Map Gallery & Travel Center in Union Station, Washington, DC, and later GeoVisual Business Services, a geographic analysis and consulting business.
With a passion for history, geography and monuments, he was the author of many articles, presentations and publications, including the book, Monumental Beauty: Peace Monuments and Museums Around the World (Peace Partners International, 2013), and contributions to: The Atomic Bomb and American Society: New Perspectives (University of Tennessee Press, 2009), The Oxford International Encyclopedia of Peace (Oxford University Press, 2010), International Handbook on Tourism and Peace (Centre for Peace Research and Peace Education, 2014). Ted had a penchant for adventure and an insatiable thirst for knowledge.
Ted is survived by his wife, Schera Chadwick of Knoxville, TN; and his daughter, Cynthia Lollis and her husband, Alexander Deiss of Decatur, GA. His first marriage to Vivian Redding Lollis ended in divorce. A celebration of Ted’s life will take place at a later date in Pentwater, MI. It was here that he spent many happy summers on Lake Michigan, living in a cottage built by his grandparents in 1907.
Memorial contributions may be made in his name to the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance (OREPA), American Foreign Service Association (AFSA), Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA), or to the charity of your choice.
Published in Knoxville News Sentinel from Jan. 6 to Jan. 10, 2021.