In Memoriam: Sherwood Moe MIA ’48

The SIPA community remembers Sherwood Moe, a member of the first graduating class of SIPA.

Should you have news of a classmate’s death, please contact us at [email protected].

This obituary was provided by Connors Funeral Home.

55 West Main Road · Portsmouth, RI  02871

(401) 683-2511

Sherwood G. Moe, age 101, of Tiverton, RI passed away on August 2nd, 2023, at Brookdale Sakonnet Bay Senior Living.  He was the devoted husband of the late Phyllis G. Moe (1924-2018). Mr. Moe was born on April 20th, 1922, in Jamestown, NY, the only son of the late Arnt Anderson Moe, and the late Ethel Berdena (Johnson) Moe. 

He graduated Jamestown High School in 1940, made the Honor Roll and was a member of the Varsity Debating Team and won a merit scholarship to Brown University. Mr. Moe earned his bachelor’s degree in History from Brown University, was also a member of the Debating Team and admitted to Delta Sigma Rho (ΔΣΡ), a collegiate honor society devoted to the promotion of public speaking.

He graduated early in October 1943 and was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps. He received orders to train as an Artillery officer and received additional orders to train as an Aerial Observer in a Stinson L-5. He graduated with the Second Basic Class, Aviation Ground Officers’ School at Quantico, VA in May 1944.

He immediately joined the 1st Battalion, 11th Marines and participated in training and combat operations in Guadalcanal, Peleliu and Okinawa. Towards the end of WWII, he was commanding officer of a military police unit responsible for containing Japanese POWs. He was subsequently promoted to Captain in the United States Marine Corps Reserve on January 1st, 1951.

With the support of the brand-new GI Bill, he enrolled in the first class at the School for International and Public Affairs at Columbia University and graduated with a master’s degree in International Affairs in 1948.

He was married in New York on June 11, 1948, and moved to Paris, France to support the Marshall Plan as Executive Assistant & Economist, Embassy to France, 1948-1954.

He then accepted a position with the United Nations as the Executive Assistant, United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and moved to Beirut, Lebanon, from 1954-1958, where his two sons were born. He returned to New York and was promoted to the Director, Senior Adviser, UNRWA Liaison Office, United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine, United States. He was then asked to serve as the Deputy Special Representative of Secretary General, World Refugee Year, 1958-1960 where he worked directly with the legendary Dag Hammarskjöld, the 2nd Secretary General of the UN.

He then transferred to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) as Special Assistant to Executive Director, from 1965 to his retirement in 1982. He was subsequently engaged as a consultant to co-author a monograph on the early history of UNICEF profiling Henry R. Labouisse, UNICEF executive director, 1965-1979.

He served as Board Chair of the 31 West 12th Street Operating Corporation for many years and led the residents to convert the apartment building from a rental to one of NYC’s first Co-Ops. He also served for many years as the Chairman of the Board of High Ridge House, a nursing home located in Riverdale, NY.

He was a long-term member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

He and Phyllis spent fifty-five summers at a small cottage named Windblown in South Orleans, MA on Little Pleasant Bay where he enjoyed daily swims, sailing, canoeing and long walks.

He is survived by his two sons, Christopher R. Moe and his wife Meaghan K. Moe of Portsmouth, RI and Timothy H. Moe and his wife Claudia L. Moe of Singapore. He will also be missed by his five grandchildren, Elizabeth A. Moe, Alison G. Moe, Tanya R. Moe, Andreas H. Moe, Ainsley V. Moe and one great grandson, Mateo F. Torres-Moe.

His funeral services will be private, and his ashes will be scattered on Little Pleasant Bay along with his wife, Phyllis. Condolences and additional information at www.memorialfuneralhome.com