George Flemming Jones, former U.S. Ambassador to Guyana whose career in the Foreign Service spanned almost 40 years, died April 20, 2015 in Fairfax, VA of a heart attack, he was 79 years old.
Mr. Jones, a specialist in Latin American affairs, served as U. S. Ambassador to the Republic of Guyana from January 1992 to August 1995.
He worked closely with former President Carter to support free and fair elections in Guyana in October 1992, which resulted in the first transfer of power from an incumbent to an opposition party.
He previously served as Deputy Chief of Mission in Chile, 1985-89, and in Costa Rica, 1982-85. He was twice Senior Adviser on Latin American affairs to the U.S. delegation to the U.N. General Assembly in New York.
His other posts included assignments to embassies in Ecuador, Ghana, Venezuela, and Guatemala, and as political adviser to the U.S. Mission to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, Austria.
He was a member of the U.S. Government delegation to the funeral of Guyana’s President Cheddi Jagan in March 1997.
After retiring from the Foreign Service in 1995, Mr. Jones became a specialist in support for democratic election processes and election observation.
From 1996 to 1999 he was Director of Programs for the Americas at the International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES), and in 2000-2005 he was Director of Democracy and Governance Programs for Development Associates, Inc.
He chaired international observer missions to elections in Paraguay (1996), Honduras (1997), and Guyana (1997), and was a member of observer missions to Ecuador, Haiti, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela.
He was senior technical adviser to the Guyana Elections Commission during the 2001 national elections. He was also active in the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA), serving on its governing board for five years, including two terms as a vice president.
He also served four years on the editorial board of the Foreign Service Journal.
George Jones was born in San Angelo, TX, and raised in Washington, D.C., and Austin, TX, where he graduated from Austin High School in 1951. He received an AB magna cum laude from Wabash College in 1955 and an honorary doctor of laws degree in 2000. He also received master’s degrees from Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in 1956 and from Stanford University in 1967.
He graduated from the National War College in 1978, where he received the U.S. Army Association prize for “excellence in research and writing.” Among his other honors was a Superior Honor Award from the State Department in 1989 for “persistence, dedication and courage in promotion of the national interests of the United States” in Chile.
He married Maria Rosario Correa in Quito, Ecuador, in 1960. In addition to Mrs. Jones, of Fairfax, Va., survivors include three sons, George F. Jones III, of Baltimore, Md.; Robert A. Jones, of Quito, Ecuador; and Dr. Michael A. Jones-Correa of Ithaca, N.Y.; a daughter, Mary Louise Blanton of Yorktown, Va.; and seven grandchildren.
Services were held at Truro Anglican Church, Fairfax, VA at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, April 25.
