In Memory
Warren W. Furth
ACA mourns the passing of Warren Furth on June 30th 2022. Warren was part of American Citizens Abroad (ACA) from the very beginning. He was a founding member of the American Children’s Citizens Rights League (ACCRL) – the precursor of ACA. His children and grandchildren were affected by the stringent citizenship rules applied to children born abroad to US citizens in force at the time. Warren was instrumental in getting the law changed in 1978, eliminating the requirement that children born abroad spend a certain amount of time in the US in order to retain their citizenship.
Born in 1928 in Vienna, Austria, Warren came to the US in 1945 to study at Harvard University and soon became a US citizen. He continued his education at the University of Virginia, receiving the Doctor of Jurisprudence from the Judge Advocate General's School in 1954. He then served with distinction in the Judge Advocate General's Corps, seeing duty in France as a judge advocate for US soldiers stationed there.
After a brief stint in New York, he returned to Europe in 1959 to take a position in the Director General's Office of the International Labour Organization in Geneva becoming the Executive Assistant to the Director-General in 1966, then Chief of the Personnel & Administrative Service Department and ultimately Director in the Office of the Director-General until 1970.
In 1971 Warren moved to the World Health Organization in Geneva as Assistant Director-General, where he served until retirement.
Warren, as a naturalized US citizen, was keenly aware of the privileges of US citizenship, and was especially eager to preserve these privileges for his children and grandchildren born abroad. He was instrumental in these endeavors as a founding member of the ACCRL, together with his friend Andy Sundberg and others. Warren helped found ACA in 1978 contributing his vast legal experience and sage advice to the frequent board meetings on which he served as an active member for many years.
ACA extends its condolences to Warren's wife Margaretha and their children and grandchildren. He will be greatly missed by all.
Roger D. Conklin
It was with great regret that ACA announced the passing of one of its longest serving Board members Mr. Roger D. Conklin. Mr. Conklin was awarded the Eugene Abrams Award for Exceptional Service to Americans Abroad. Roger never gave up in his quest to raise awareness of the issues affecting Americans abroad. His last email to Jackie Bugnion, our former Tax Director, was written from his hospital bed on November 16th 2014 just nine days before he passed away. Roger will be greatly missed by those of us who worked with him at ACA, Inc. and also by the community of Americans living and working overseas for whom he tirelessly advocated.
Andy Sundberg
American Citizens Abroad (ACA) sadly announced the death of the founder of ACA, Andrew P. Sundberg, on August 30th 2012. Andy Sundberg, who was 71, was a brilliant, charismatic, warm and funny man of broad intellectual interests who spent his entire life working to convince the US government that Americans living abroad are assets to the country and should be treated as such.
Sundberg was born in 1941 and grew up in Japan and Germany. A graduate of the United States Naval Academy, he was a Rhodes scholar at Oxford and served in the Navy in Cuba and Vietnam before moving to Geneva in 1968. In 1977 he and others in Geneva founded the American Children’s Citizens Rights League, after they discovered that their children born abroad would not have American citizenship. Sundberg’s efforts with Congress led to a change in US legislation which made it easier for children born abroad to Americans to acquire American nationality. In 1978 he founded American Citizens Abroad to address the broad range of issues specific to Americans outside of the United States.
He devoted much of his work to encouraging the United States to change from a citizenship-based taxation system, with its highly negative impact on Americans living abroad, to a residence-based system like that of virtually every other country in the world. A history enthusiast, Sundberg compiled a complete historical review of US taxation impacting Americans abroad.
Sundberg founded local organizations of both Republicans and Democrats Abroad in Geneva, served as the worldwide chairman of Democrats Abroad from 1980 to 1985, and as a member of the Democratic National Committee from 1981 to 1988. He raised the profile of Americans abroad when he ran for President of the United States in 1988, in the worldwide overseas Democratic Party primary.
In addition to his enormous work on behalf of Americans abroad, Sundberg for many years was an international business consultant for public and private sector clients worldwide. He also founded an internet company, and worked for a number of years to develop new micro-finance projects in Africa in partnership with African diaspora groups in Europe.
All who are active in ACA appreciate enormously his tireless efforts on behalf of Americans abroad. He will be greatly missed.
- Wikipedia article on Andy Sundberg
- Sundberg family announcement
- PRWeb press release
- International Herald Tribune obituary
- "Geneva Lunch" website obituary
- "Le Temps" obituary
- "Tribune de Genève" obituary
- Obituary in "The American Oxonian" (Fall 2012, reprinted by permission)
- AAWE Remembers Andy Sundberg