Joe and Dorothy Zaring
Joe and Dorothy Zaring are lifelong supporters of education and global leadership. Spending their professional careers as foreign policy analysts, the Zarings have spent much of their lives living in an international mindset. Joe Zaring, a student and friend of the late Dr. Boyd Martin, graduated from the University of Idaho in 1942 with straight A’s and a degree in Political Science. Upon graduation Joe enlisted in the Army at Fort Douglas. After a bad case of the “bed bugs” as Joe would say, and an indication of a heart murmur Joe was rejected by the US Army. Prior to enlisting Joe was offered a fellowship at Harvard, which he went on to do until being drafted in the fall of 1944 for WWII and stationed in Western Austria. Joe completed his duty in the spring of 1946 and stayed on in Austria as the U.S. representative for the Allied Denazification Bureau in Vienna.
After a few years, Joe decided to return to Harvard to work on a thesis about the Denazification program in Austria and was recruited into covert Austrian operations shortly after. Joe asked to be shifted to analytical affairs and this is where he met Dorothy. Dorothy Zaring worked at the Pentagon in the G2. Fluent in French, Russian and Italian, Dorothy was transferred to the CIA as an Italian analyst. Analytical collaboration between Italy and Austria joined the two and they continued their work at the CIA for over 30 years. Dorothy and Joe Zaring celebrated their 57th wedding anniversary in 2011.
The Zarings believe deeply in the power of knowledge and action. Gathering from their studies, careers, and travel experiences they encourage us all to move into a more global mindset, to look towards better international leadership and most of all to get involved.
Mr. Zaring died in 2012, age 91.
By Rachel Dodge