Bronson Edwards Percival

Bronson (Bron) Edwards Percival,76, diplomat, professor, and author, passed away on December 25, 2024. Born in Bremen, Germany, Bron grew up in a U.S. diplomatic family assigned to embassies in Kabul, Paris, Bremen and Bonn, Germany. Bron attended the University of California, Berkeley and graduated with an A.B. in International Relations, earning membership in Phi Beta Kappa. While doing post graduate work at the University of Chicago, he travelled to India to study Hindi and do research. This interest in South Asia led to Bron's 30-year career in the U.S. State Department as a Foreign Service political officer beginning in 1974. He reported from countries including Lebanon, Iraq, Malaysia, Indonesia and The Netherlands. He was an expert on terrorism and Islamic radicalism in Southeast Asia, and on South and Southeast Asia maritime security. Bron received his master's degree in National Security Strategy from the National War College, Washington, D.C. From 1999-200l the State Department assigned Bron as a professor of Strategy and Policy to the Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island where he taught a course he created on modern Southeast Asia. The 9/11 terrorist attacks brought Bron back to Washington, to focus the State Department's Intelligence and Research Bureau on the new terrorist threat. He remained there until 2004 when he retired from the State Department. In his post-retirement, Bron accepted several teaching, writing, advising and 'think tank" positions. His book, The Dragon Looks South: China and Southeast Asia in the New Century was published in 2007. Bron met his wife Susan when he was two and she one. Susan's father, also a Foreign Service political officer, briefed Bron's father on Kabul, Afghanistan from where Susan's family had recently returned and Bron's family was being posted. They met again in their late twenties and have been together for forty-two happily united years. They have a daughter Barbara of whom they are very proud. Finally retiring in 2017, Bron and Susan bought a home on the Chester River in historic Chestertown, Maryland. Bron enjoyed playing tennis and bocce and working in his garden. He continued his connection with the Washington Map Society of which he was president 2004-2005. He was a passionate collector of antique maps of South and Southeast Asia, England's Essex and Cheshire counties, Connecticut, and the Chesapeake Bay. He also served on the Democratic Central Committee for Kent County, Maryland. A voracious reader and known locally for wearing a fedora, Bron was well-known in local coffee bars and The Bookplate. He loved excellent food and wine, beaches and global travel. Bron is survived by his wife Susan, their daughter Barbara Percival of Silver Spring, Maryland, two sisters, a brother, five nieces and nephews and their families. A celebration of life is planned for April 12, 1:30 pm, at Emmanuel Church in Chestertown, Maryland. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Kent and Queen Anne's Rescue Squad: Kentrescuesquad.com or Shore Rivers: Shorerivers.org.

Bronson Edwards Percival

July 19, 1948 - December 25, 2024