DESMOND FITZGERALD OFFICIAL WITH CIA, DIES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00001R000200060024-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 17, 1999
• Sequence Number: 24
• Publication Date: July 24, 1967
• Content Type: NSPR

STATINTL
Approved For *Wg =d19W". CI
g 4 JUL. 1967
A
vesmona ritzlierald;
Officio) With CIA, Dies
Desmond FitzGerald deputy After attending the Command
director of operations for the
Central Intelligence Agency and
policy-maker for all the agen-
cy'e overseas activities, died of
a heart attack yesterday while
en route to the Fauquier County
Hospital, Warrenton. He was 57.
Mr. FitzGerald collapsed dur-
1ng a tennis match at his coun-
try home near The Plains, Va.
His home in Washington was at
1671 34th St. NW.
The branch of the CIA he
beaded collects intelligence in
foreign countries and executes
various projects.
It i~ the "working half of the
agency's two-pronged effort."
The other half, based mostly at
headquarters in Langley, Va.,
analyzes and acts on the infor-
mation received.
Most persons outside the
agency had never heard of Mr.
FitzGerald, so little-publicized
were his responsibilities and
po;ver.
Corporate Lawyer
Mr. FitzGerald has been a
corporate lawyer with the New
York firm of Spence, Hopkins,
Walser, Hotchkiss & Angell, be-
for joining the agency. He was
a graduate of Harvard Univer-
sity and its law school. His prac-
' tice in his native New York
prior to World War If was
termed "brilliant" by a long-
time colleague: ,
"He was the kind of man
who left the practice of law at
age 31 to enlist as a private in
the Army" because there was
a war on,, a friend said.
t ' His four years in the Army,
mostly In the China-Burma-In-
die theater, gave him his first
+aipaleoQ.,,,,in,,ioteuigisnoe w~oclc.
and General Staff School, he
worked behind enemy lines of-,
ten, and served as a liaison of-
ficer for Chinese troops in the
Burma campaign.
Eventually he became opera-,
Lions officer for security for the,
Chinese Combat Command In,
Nanking. When he was dis-
charged he held the rank of
major and a Bronze Star with
Oak Leaf Cluster.
On his return to law practice.
in New York, Mr. FitzGerald'
"found it dulla friend said,
in comparison with his Army
years. He became active 'in the.
American Yet Trans Committee.
After the othreak of hostili-
ties in Korea, he joined the
CIA. Those years were a time
of expansion for the agency,
and many of Mr. FitzGerald's
friends also came to Washing-
ton, many to work for CIA. i
"Very Committed"
"Iie was very committed to
the survival of this country in a
difficult world," another friend
commented.
Fifteen years after Mr. Fitz-,
Gerald joined CIA, he replaced'
Richard Helms as deputy direc-
tor for operations.
When he came to the agency
in 1951, he served as a station
chief in the Philippine Islands
and Japan. Then in 1961, he was
made director of Latin Ameri-
can operations in the shuffling
that followed the CIA's ill-fated
Bay of Pigs operation, an inva-
sion of Castro Cuba by a force of
Cuban exiles.
Hie quick and incisive mind
was his most exceptional quali-
ty, combined with a courage in.
making decisions and an hones-
ty and fair-mindedness in deal-;
ing with people, colleagues said.''
Deputy Secretary of Defense)
Paul Nitze called Mr. Fitz-
;Gerald "hardly replaceable .. .
,he combined a unique balance;
of dash, courage, chre and wis-!
dom."
Mr. FitzGerald leaves his wife,!
formerly head of the Washington
Hearing and Speech Center; two
daughters, Frances and Joan; a
son, Desmond Jr., and a step-
daughter, Barbara Mary Law-
rence.
The family requests that
expressions of sympathy be in
the form of a contribution to the
Hearing and Speech Center,
affiliated with Children's Hospi-.
Approved For Release 'i99/09107 : CIA-RDP'7-000
CPYRGHT
01 R000200060024-4