The funeral of Mark Palmer, former U.S. Ambassador to Hungary from 1986-1990, took place in Washington DC on April 10, 2013. Hungarian and American diplomats – some of them former colleagues of Ambassador Palmer – watched the live broadcast of the funeral ceremony together at the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Before the live broadcast, MFA State Secretary Iván Bába delivered the following commemorative remark.

Dear Colleagues,
Dear Friends,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

We have gathered here today to bid a final farewell to and honor the memory of the late Ambassador Mark Palmer.

The official memorial service is to commence in a few minutes at the Metropolitan Club in Washington, DC, where many of Ambassador Palmer’s friends and colleagues have gathered to express their tribute. Our Ambassador to the United States, György Szapáry, who is representing the Government of Hungary at the event, is going to personally deliver the message of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

Unfortunately, not all of those who have known and respected Ambassador Palmer have the opportunity to say goodbye to him in Washington, DC. We were therefore pleased to accept the proposal of the organizers to host a commemorative event here at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Thanks to the new technologies of the 21st century, we are able to follow the event here in Budapest through online streaming.

We are going to listen to the reminiscences of various speakers related to different aspects of Mark Palmer’s rich life and successful carrier.

Although we commemorate him in general terms as an outstanding man who contributed significantly to Hungary’s transition to democracy, it is also important to note that he played an important transformational role as head of the US Embassy in shaping the relationship between the United States and the Hungarian public. It is in this spirit of acknowledgement of Mark’s diplomatic achievements that we invited our colleagues at the U.S. Embassy in Budapest, whose predecessors had the privilege to work with Mark himself.

Let me express our gratitude at this point to the diplomats of the U.S. Embassy for the outstanding working relationship our Ministry and the Embassy enjoy: a cooperation that has included, among other things, the organization of a Transatlantic Week in 2011, including the inauguration of the statue of President Ronald Reagan (for whom Ambassador Palmer also worked as a speechwriter) and the launching of the Tom Lantos Institute, as well as the commemoration of our 90 years of diplomatic relations in 2012.

(Ministry of Foreign Affairs)