Background
Robert Barnet was born on November 6, 1911 in Shanghai, China, in the family of Eugene Epperson and Bertha Mae (Smith) Barnett.
Robert Barnet was born on November 6, 1911 in Shanghai, China, in the family of Eugene Epperson and Bertha Mae (Smith) Barnett.
Robert graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he also received a master's degree in economics. He was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to study at Oxford University. He later studied Chinese language and history at Yale University and international affairs at Harvard University.
Barnett devoted much of his career to work with the U.S. State Department in China and Europe. He also served as deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs.
Robert began his career as an educator, first at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, then at the Institute of Pacific Relations. In 1941 he became program executive officer for United China Relief in New York City. In 1945 he began four years with the Far Eastern Commission for Occupation of Japan as a U.S. member of its economics and reparations committees. He joined the State Department in 1949, first serving as officer in charge of China economic affairs. Other stints followed, including posts in Europe, the Netherlands, and Belgium.
In addition he served in other capacities, such as officer in charge of European economic organizations, deputy director of foreign economic advisory staff in the office of the under-secretary of state, and ultimately as the deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs. In 1970 he became vice president and director of the Asia Society’s Washington Center. Nine years later found him as a resident associate with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Robert was suspected of being communist sympathizer.
On April 26, 1940, Robert married Patricia Glover, but this marriage ended in divorce. He had four children from his first wife: Dickson Glover, Robert Warren, Clare, who deceased, and Eugenia. On December 10, 1983 he married his second wife Joan B. Burrows. He was also survived by four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.