John E. Dixon, Jr., 89

Gallup Organization Executive;

Montgomery School Board and Planning Board Member;

Founding Trustee of The Van Harlingen Historical Society

- Died November 23, 2022

John E. Dixon, Jr. of Chevy Chase, MD died at home on November 23, 2022. He was 89.

Mr. Dixon was the eldest child of John E. Dixon and Carolyn Davis Dixon of Belle Mead. He graduated from Princeton High School in 1951 and Haverford College in 1955.

Mr. Dixon was employed by The Gallup Organization of Princeton from 1955-1966 in the field of market, option, and political research as field director, study director, and vice president. He served on the Montgomery Board of Education from 1963 to 66 and on the Montgomery Township Planning Board from 1964 to 1966. He was a founding trustee of The Van Harlingen Historical Society.

In 1966 he joined the United States Information Agency, serving in Washington, New Delhi, Saigon, and Peshawar. During his USIA career, he conducted media and opinion studies, headed the agency’s EEO investigations, and overseas cultural and information activities. Following his assignment in Peshawar, where he assisted the international press coverage of drug-related activities in that area and the war in nearby Afghanistan, he received the agency’s superior honor award. He retired in 1990.

He then returned to Peshawar, where he served first as coordinator for the USAID-supported Narcotics Awareness Center for Afghanis in 1990-91 and then as director of the International Rescue Committee’s Afghan refugee relief office between 1993-95.

In retirement, he served as a member of the board of directors of the Afghanistan Centre at Kabul University and as an advisor to the Afghan Media Resource Center and the Development and Ability Organization (People with Disabilities), both in Kabul. He also acted as director for the State Department-supported, American Institute of Afghanistan Studies, also in Kabul.

His interests included reading, travel, and the arts, especially music.

Mr. Dixon is survived by four children: Eliza (Zelen Savich) of Los Angeles, Kate (Dan Wilkinson) of Raleigh, Edward (Elena) of Savannah, and Benjamin (Belinda Gaynor) of London; five grandchildren, Shannon, Cassandra and Noah Dixon, Carolyn and Nicholas Savich: a sister, Peggy (William) Richardson of Princeton and a brother, Frederick (Elizabeth) of Norfolk. His wife, Elizabeth Musser Dixon, from whom he was separated, died in 2019.

A memorial service and internment of Mr. Dixon’s ashes in the Dixon family plot at the cemetery of The Harlingen Church, Belle Mead will happen at a later date. Condolences may be mailed to his daughter Kate Dixon, 1316 Brooks Avenue, Raleigh, NC 27607. Contributions in his memory may be made to the International Rescue Committee at www.rescue.org.